@article{ref1,
title="Association between low activity serotonin transporter promoter genotype and early onset alcoholism with habitual impulsive violent behavior",
journal="Molecular psychiatry",
year="1999",
author="Hallikainen, T. and Saito, T. and Lachman, H. M. and Volavka, Jan and Pohjalainen, Tiina and Ryynänen, Olli-Pekka and Kauhanen, J. and Syvälahti, E. and Hietala, J. and Tiihonen, Jari",
volume="4",
number="4",
pages="385-388",
abstract="A common 44-base pair insertion/deletion polymorphism in the promoter region of the human serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene has been observed to be associated with affective illness and anxiety-related traits. This biallelic functional polymorphism, designated long (L) and short (S), affects 5-HTT gene expression since the S promoter is less active than the L promoter. Since there is strong evidence of a disturbance in brain serotonergic transmission among antisocial, impulsive, and violent type 2 alcoholic subjects, we decided to test the hypothesis that the frequency of the S allele, which is associated with reduced 5-HTT gene expression, is higher among habitually violent type 2 alcoholics when compared with race and gender-matched healthy controls and non-violent late-onset (type 1) alcoholics. The 5-HTT promoter genotype was determined by a PCR-based method in 114 late onset (type 1) non-violent alcoholics, 51 impulsive violent recidivistic offenders with early onset alcoholism (type 2), and 54 healthy controls. All index subjects and controls were white Caucasian males of Finnish origin. The S allele frequency was higher among type 2 alcoholics compared with type 1 alcoholics (chi2 = 4.86, P = 0.028) and healthy controls (chi2 = 8.24, P = 0.004). The odds ratio for SS genotype vs LL genotype was 3.90, 95% Cl 1.37-11.11, P = 0.011 when type 2 alcoholics were compared with healthy controls. The results suggest that the 5-HTT 'S' promoter polymorphism is associated with an increased risk for early onset alcoholism associated with antisocial personality disorder and impulsive, habitually violent behavior.<p /><p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1359-4184",
doi="",
url="http://dx.doi.org/"
}