Influence of DRD2 and ANKK1 polymorphisms on the manifestation of withdrawal syndrome symptoms in alcohol addiction

Background: we investigated the relationship between withdrawal syndrome symptoms and dopamine receptor 2 drd2 gene polymorphisms -141 c i/d (rs1799732) exon 8 g/a (rs6276) and ankk1 (ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1) gene polymorphism taq1a (rs1800497). material: a total number of 213 patients who met the icd 10 criteria for given phenotypes were enrolled in the study. those phenotypes included: dissocial personality disorder,early onset,alcohol withdrawal syndrome with seizures,alcohol withdrawal syndrome with delirium tremens,and alcohol withdrawal syndrome with seizures and delirium tremens. results: our results show statistically significant associations between snpin exon 8 a/g in the drd2 gene and alcohol withdrawal syndrome with seizures,and between snp in promoter -141 c i/d in the drd2 gene and early onset of alcohol dependence (ad). the a/a genotype in exon 8 a/g polymorphism seems to be a positive predictive factor for the presence or the lack of seizures in alcohol withdrawal syndrome. the a/g genotype is possibly a protective factor for this ad phenotype. conclusions: these results suggest that both investigated drd2 polymorphisms have an impact on the ad phenotype. the findings of the presented study reconfirm that dopamine receptor 2 gene polymorphisms are associated with alcohol addiction and alcohol withdrawal syndrome. copyright © 2012 by institute of pharmacology polish academy of sciences.