The influence of GABRA2, childhood trauma, and their interaction on alcohol, heroin, and cocaine dependence.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The GABRA2 gene has been implicated in addiction. Early life stress has been shown to alter GABRA2 expression in adult rodents. We hypothesized that childhood trauma, GABRA2 variation, and their interaction would influence addiction vulnerability.

Methods

African-American men were recruited for this study: 577 patients with lifetime DSM-IV single and comorbid diagnoses of alcohol, cocaine, and heroin dependence, and 255 control subjects. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) was administered. Ten GABRA2 haplotype-tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were genotyped.

Results

We found that exposure to childhood trauma predicted substance dependence (p < .0001). Polysubstance dependence was associated with the highest CTQ scores (p < .0001). The Af

SUBMITTER: Enoch MA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2964936 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature