Evidence for the importance of the human dopamine transporter gene for withdrawal symptomatology of alcoholics in a German population.

Two new polymorphisms in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene, adjacent to the known variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism, have been investigated in the present population-based association study including 351 alcoholics and 336 controls. The DraI restriction site was not polymorphic in our population. The G2319A polymorphism was not significantly different with respect to genotype or allele distribution between alcoholics and controls. Subsequently, in individuals with VNTR homozygosity for the ten repeat allele, we found a higher prevalence of A/A homozygosity in patients with seizure history (P = 0.001, odds ratio (OR) = 7.913), with delirium history (P = 0.032, OR = 4.707), and with an alcoholic mother (P = 0.021, OR = 5.250), compared to homozygote 10/10 controls. Our findings provide further evidence that the 3'UTR of the DAT1 gene affects vulnerability to severe alcohol withdrawal. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.