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Association of the gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptor gene cluster with alcohol dependence in Taiwanese Han

Molecular Psychiatry volume 7, pages 828–829 (2002)Cite this article

SIR – Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain and several lines of evidence suggest that GABAA receptors play a role in the pathogenesis of alcohol dependence.1,2,3 In animal studies, several loci related to alcohol withdrawal have been identified on mouse chromosome 11.4 The corresponding human gene cluster on chromosome 5q33–34, encoding the β2, α1, α6, and γ2 subunits of the GABAA receptor, may be susceptibility loci for alcohol withdrawal and other alcohol-related phenotypes.5 Four human genetic association studies support a possible relationship between alcoholism and certain receptor subunit genes.1,2,3,6 In this study, five published single nucleotide polymorphisms in the GABR gene cluster, C1412T1 in the last GABRB2 exon, C1236T (or Pro385Ser)6 and T1519C1 in the GABRA6 gene, A15G3 in the last GABRA1 intron, and A123C3 in the last GABRG2 intron, were chosen to test the association between the GABAA receptor (GABR) gene cluster and alcohol dependence in Taiwanese Han.

The selection of study subjects has been described in detail elsewhere.7,8 Subjects who met the DSM-III-R diagnostic criteria for alcohol dependence, all with various extents of withdrawal symptoms, were included as cases, and controls were subjects who had never drunk or only occasionally drank small quantities, and were matched to the cases by ethnicity and sex. The mean age for cases was 39.4 years (range 21–69), and that for controls was 57.6 years (range 41–84). Any subjects born from an inter-ethnic marriage were excluded. Alcoholic status was assessed by mental health professionals using a standardized semi-structured clinical interview.8 The alcoholics (n = 158, 94.3% were males) and controls (n = 149, 98.7% were males) were recruited from both the community and hospital wards in Taiwan with informed consent.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan

    Y T Chang, C S J Fann, Z H Liao, J L Huang & A T A Cheng

  2. Institute of Molecular Medicine, National Cheng Kung University Medical College, Tainan, Taiwan

    H S Sun

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Cathay General Hospital and Department of Psychiatry, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

    C-J Chang

  4. Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Research Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK

    E W Loh

  5. Kai-Suan Psychiatric Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

    W Y Yu

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  1. Y T Chang
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  2. H S Sun
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  3. C S J Fann
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  7. E W Loh
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  8. W Y Yu
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  9. A T A Cheng
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Correspondence to A T A Cheng.

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Chang, Y., Sun, H., Fann, C. et al. Association of the gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptor gene cluster with alcohol dependence in Taiwanese Han. Mol Psychiatry 7, 828–829 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001110

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