Allelic Association of the Dopamine D4 Receptor Gene in Korean Alcoholism

한국인 알코올 중독환자에서 도파민 D4 수용체의 대립 유전자 연관성에 대한 연구

The dopamine D4 receptor gene has a hypervariable segment in the coding region characterized by a varying number of 48bp repeats in exon III of the gene. Varying the numbers of repeated segments may change the length, structure, and function of the receptor, which makes this gene a possible candidate for variations in dopamine-related behaviors, such as alcoholism and drug abuse. We evaluated the dopamine D4 receptor genotype in male alcoholics and normal controls. All alcoholics and controls were unrelated and from the Korean population. Genotype and allele frequencies in 67 alcoholics were compared to 67 controls who were free of alcohol abuse, substance abuse, and major mental illness. No association was found between the dopamine D4 receptor allele and alcoholism. This result indicate that there is no association of the dopamine D4 receptor with alcoholism in Korean. Further systemized investigation to determine the role of dopamine D4 receptor gene in alcoholism with a larger sample size will be required.