It has been well documented that variant alleles of both ADH1B*2 of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and ALDH2*2 of aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) protect against the development of alcoholism in East Asians.
We tested the most significant ADH1B single nucleotide polymorphisms for alcohol dependence from a genomewide association study with this sample, ADH1B-rs1229984 (Arg48His) and ADH1B-rs2066702 (Arg370Cys), in EA and AA subsamples, respectively.
We developed a time- and cost-effective multiplex allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (AS-PCR) method based on the two-step PCR thermal cycles for genotyping single-nucleotide polymorphisms in three alcoholism-related genes: alcohol dehydrogenase 1B, aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 and μ-opioid receptor.
Regular male drinkers without alcohol dependence (n = 112) ages 18-25 years participated in alcohol challenge sessions consisting of placebo and two doses of alcohol (target BrAC: 0 g/dl for placebo, .04 g/dl low dose, and .08 g/dl high dose) and genotyped for variants in ADH1B*3 and ADH1C*2.
The presence of the less-active form of alcohol dehydrogenase-1B encoded by ADH1B*1/*1 (vs. *2 allele) and active form of aldehyde dehydrogenase-2 (ALDH2) encoded by ALDH2*1/*1 (vs. *2 allele) increases the risk of alcoholism in East Asians.