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PMID: 2014795 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenase genotypes and alcoholism in Chinese men.

American journal of human genetics ·Vol. 48 ·No. 4 ·1991-04-00 ·Pages 677-81

Thomasson HR, Edenberg HJ, Crabb DW, Mai XL, Jerome RE, Li TK, Wang SP, Lin YT, Lu RB, Yin SJ

Abstract

The liver enzymes alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), which are responsible for the oxidative metabolism of ethanol, are polymorphic in humans. An allele encoding an inactive form of the mitochondrial ALDH2 is known to reduce the likelihood of alcoholism in Japanese. We hypothesized that the polymorphisms of both ALDH and ADH modify the predisposition to development of alcoholism. Therefore, we determined the genotypes of the ADH2, ADH3, and ALDH2 loci of alcoholic and nonalcoholic Chinese men living in Taiwan, using leukocyte DNA amplified by the PCR and allele-specific oligonucleotides. The alcoholics had significantly lower frequencies of the ADH2*2, ADH3*1, and ALDH2*2 alleles than did the nonalcoholics, suggesting that genetic variation in both ADH and ALDH, by modulating the rate of metabolism of ethanol and acetaldehyde, influences drinking behavior and the risk of developing alcoholism.

MeSH Terms
Alcohol Dehydrogenase/genetics Alcoholism/genetics Aldehyde Dehydrogenase/genetics Alleles China/ethnology Gene Frequency Genotype Humans Male Polymerase Chain Reaction Taiwan
Chemicals
Alcohol Dehydrogenase Aldehyde Dehydrogenase
Authors & Affiliations
10 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Thomasson H R
Department of Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis 46202-5121.
Edenberg H J
Crabb D W
Mai X L
Jerome R E
Li T K
Wang S P
Lin Y T
Lu R B
Yin S J
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Article Info
Journal
American journal of human genetics
Abbr.
Am J Hum Genet
ISSN
0002-9297
Published
1991-04-00
Pages
677-81
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0370475
PMCID
PMC1682953
Subset
IM
Grants
NIAAA NIH HHS · AA02342 · United States
NIAAA NIH HHS · AA06434 · United States
NIAAA NIH HHS · AA06460 · United States
External Links
PubMed source PMC Full Text View journal details
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