No association between polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter gene and susceptibility to cocaine dependence among African-American individuals.
Published
Journal Article
Genetic research of cocaine abuse has been relatively limited among the African-American population. Since the serotonin transporter (5HTT) may be involved in modulating effects of cocaine, we investigated whether allelic variants of the 5HTT gene may confer susceptibility to cocaine dependence among African-American individuals. One hundred and fifty-six cocaine-dependent subjects and 82 controls were studied. Polymerase chain reaction-based genotyping of a variable-number-tandem-repeat (VNTR) marker yielded three alleles designated 12, 10 and 9. Genotype and allele frequencies were compared using chi-square analyses. We found no differences between subjects and controls with respect to genotype distribution (cocaine: 12/12 = 50%, 10/12 = 35.3%, 10/10 = 13.5%, 9/12 = 1.3%; controls: 12/12 = 42.7%, 10/12 = 39.0%, 10/10 = 17.1%, 9/12 = 1.2%). Similarly, allele frequencies of the VNTR marker did not differ between the two groups (cocaine: 12 = 68.3%, 10 = 31.1%, 9 = 0.6%; controls: 12 = 62.8%, 10 = 36.6%, 9 = 0.6%). Our findings do not seem to support a relationship between VNTR polymorphisms and cocaine dependence among African-American patients. Further studies involving larger samples are required to confirm our results.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Patkar, AA; Berrettini, WH; Hoehe, M; Hill, KP; Gottheil, E; Thornton, CC; Weinstein, SP
Published Date
- September 2002
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 12 / 3
Start / End Page
- 161 - 164
PubMed ID
- 12218660
Pubmed Central ID
- 12218660
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0955-8829
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1097/00041444-200209000-00007
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- England