Preliminary Evidence for cue-induced Alcohol Craving Modulated by Serotonin Transporter Gene Polymorphism rs1042173

• Published in: Frontiers in psychiatry 2012, Vol.3, p.6-6
• Main Authors: Ait-Daoud, Nassima, Seneviratne, Chamindi, Smith, Justin B, Roache, John D, Dawes, Michael A, Liu, Lei, Wang, Xin-Qun, Johnson, Bankole A
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 5′-HTTLPR; alcohol; Alcoholism; Cue Craving; Genetics; Psychiatry; rs1042173
• ISSN: 1664-0640; 1664-0640
• DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2012.00006

We previously have shown that cue-induced alcohol craving and propensity for higher drinking are modulated by allelic differences in SLC6A4 associated with serotonin transporter (5-HTT) expression level alterations. In an independent study, we characterized another polymorphism, SNP rs1042173, in 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) of the same gene, which also altered 5-HTT expression levels; the T allele of rs1042173 was associated with lower mRNA and protein levels. In subsequent analyses, the TT genotype was found to be associated with higher drinking intensity in alcohol-dependent (AD) individuals of Caucasian descent. Building upon these findings, we hypothesized that the low-expressing TT genotype associated with intense drinking would predict higher craving for alcohol in AD individuals. In this pilot study, we sought to test our hypothesis by examining 34 Hispanic AD volunteers (mean age, 34.8 years) for rs1042173 genotype-based [i.e., TT versus TG/GG (Gx)] differences in subjective response to alcohol. We employed a human laboratory paradigm and analyzed the data using a linear mixed-effects model (SAS® PROC MIXED) to assess treatment, cue procedures, and genotype main effects as well as the two-way interaction effects between them. On subjective "urge to drink" and "crave for a drink," we found a significant main effect of the cue experiment (p ≤ 0.01) and an interaction effect between genotype and cue effects (p