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Thursday, January 28, 2010

GABRA2 and Alcohol Use Disorders: No Evidence of an Association in an Italian Case–Control Study


Alcoholism is a major health and social issue, a highly frequent disease and a cause of premature death. It is also the most expensive addictive disorder being related to high morbidity and mortality, violence, accidents, and social and legal problems. It is a quantitative disorder, where the combined incidence of environmental and multiple genetic factors varies from 1 subject to another. Recent association studies have identified several genes as candidates for alcoholism, including GABAA receptor genes, due to their role in mediating several behavioral effects of alcohol, such as motor incoordination, anxiolysis, sedation, and withdrawal. The proposed association between the 3' half of the gene encoding the alpha-2 subunit of GABA receptor (3'-GABRA2) and alcohol use disorders (AUDs) has received several independent confirmations.

Despite previous reports, we did not find an association between AUDs and 3'-GABRA2 polymorphisms. This is probably due to the minimal comorbidity of our Italian sample suggesting that this gene is implicated in polysubstance dependence rather than in alcoholism alone.

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