Association study between genetic polymorphisms in the 14-3-3 eta chain and dopamine D4 receptor genes and alcoholism

Background: The dopaminergic system may be involved in the development of a lcoholism. As part of our ongoing studies on the association between alcoho lism and dopaminergic genes, we report herein a mutation analysis of the 14 -3-3 eta chain gene (YWHAH) and an association study between alcoholism and the YWHAH and dopamine D4 receptor gene (DRD4) polymorphisms. Methods: Nucleotide mutations were investigated using single-strand conform ation polymorphism methods. Associations were analyzed using a case-control design involving 185 Japanese alcoholics and 286 Japanese controls. Results: Five polymorphisms, -147G>A, -134(GCCTGCA)2-4, IVS1+31(G)7-8, IVS1 +73-74ins(G), and 753A>G, were detected on the YWHAH, and three of them wer e novel. No significant associations were found between alcoholism and thes e polymorphisms or two additional polymorphisms on DRD4 exon III and DRD4 - 521C/T. Conclusions: YWHAH and DRD4 do not appear to play a major role in the devel opment of alcoholism.