Serotonin transporter gene polymorphisms in alcohol dependence

The serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene is a candidate gene in alcohol depen dence because serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) can alleviate alcohol wi thdrawal. Studies of the 5-HTT gene in alcohol dependence have not resulted in a consensus. Recent studies have examined the transcriptionally active promoter polymorphism, a 44-bp deletion resulting in short (S) or long (L) alleles. In this study, 131 alcohol-dependent patients of Northern and West ern European descent were genotyped. Seventy of these patients were diagnos ed with alcohol dependence without comorbid disorders. Sixty-one patients w ere diagnosed with alcohol dependence comorbid with Tourette syndrome (alco holic-TS). We found an excess of the S allele in alcohol-dependent patients (47%) compared with 125 ethnically matched controls (39%). A similar trend was found in 150 ethnically matched TS patients without alcohol dependence comorbidity (51%). However, the statistical significance of this trend in the data was not present after Bonferroni correction. The data presented su ggests a trend toward increased frequency of the S promoter allele in alcoh ol-dependent, alcoholic-TS and TS patients. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.