Overlapping dopaminergic pathway genetic susceptibility to heroin and cocaine addictions in African Americans.

ABSTRACT: Drugs of abuse activate the mesolimbic dopaminergic pathway. Genetic variations in the dopaminergic system may contribute to drug addiction. Several processes are shared between cocaine and heroin addictions but some neurobiological mechanisms may be specific. This study examined the association of 98 single nucleotide polymorphisms in 13 dopamine-related genes with heroin addiction (OD) and/or cocaine addiction (CD) in a sample of 801 African Americans (315 subjects with OD ± CD, 279 subjects with CD, and 207 controls). Single-marker analyses provided nominally significant evidence for associations of 24 SNPs) in DRD1, ANKK1/DRD2, DRD3, DRD5, DBH, DDC, COMT and CSNK1E. A DRD2 7-SNPs haplotype that includes SNPs rs1075650 and rs2283265, which were shown to alter D2S/D2L splicing, was indic

SUBMITTER: Levran O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4399004 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature