Confirmation of association of the GABRA2 gene with alcohol dependence by subtype-specific analysis

Objectives Three recent studies revealed a haplotypic association of alcohol dependence with the gene encoding the alpha(2) subunit of the gamma-aminobutyric acid type A (GABA(A)) receptor (GABRA2). The present study examined whether variation of the GABRA2 gene confers susceptibility to different subtypes of alcohol dependence in the German population. Methods A total of 257 German alcohol-dependent patients and 88 healthy population controls were genotyped for six single-nucleotide polymorphisms covering the middle part and the 3' end of GABRA2. Allelic, genotypic and haplotypic comparisons were done for subgroups of alcohol-dependent patients with a presumed high genetic load. Results The overall alcohol-dependent patients vs. control group comparison confirmed positive allelic association for five of six single-nucleotide polymorphisms mapping from intron 3 to the 3' end of GABRA2 (P= 0.01-0.02). Haplotype analysis revealed two common haplotypes accounting for approximately 90% of the chromosomes within the patients and controls. The less frequent haplotype was significantly more prevalent among the alcohol-dependent patients (45%) than among the controls [29%; odds ratio (OR)= 1.97, 95% confidence interval (CO: 1.30-2.96]. The strength of association increased, if the subsets of alcohol-dependent patients with a positive family history (OR= 2.60, 95% Cl: 1.63-4.13), withdrawal seizures (OR= 2.22, 95% Cl: 1.30-3.79) or an early onset (OR=2.19, 95% Cl: 1.24-3.88) were analyzed. Conclusions Although our study was limited by the number of cases being larger than the number of controls, the results confirm GABRA2 as a susceptibility gene for alcohol dependence in the German population. We found a consistent increase of the susceptibility effect in alcohol-dependent patients with a presumed strong genetic predisposition.