Substance abuse disorder and major depression appear to be associated with the h5-HTR(1B)G861C locus in the patient population, but other psychopathologies such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, and suicide attempts were not found to be associated with this polymorphism.
Substance abuse is associated with novelty seeking, a heritable human personality trait which may be influenced by alleles of the dopamine D4 (DRD4) gene exon III VNTR.
Brain-Derived-Neurotrophic-Factor (BDNF) is involved in the neurodevelopment of dopaminergic (DA)-related systems and interacts with the meso-limbic DA systems, involved in the therapeutic response to antipsychotic drugs and substance abuse.
Prodynorphin (PDYN) is an opioid peptide precursor that yields dynorphins, endogenous kappa opioid-receptor agonists that play important roles in substance abuse.
Dopamine D4 receptor VNTR polymorphism associated with greater risk for substance abuse among adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders: Preliminary results.
Kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) antagonists are currently being considered for the treatment of a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions, including depressive, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders.
A polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) yielding a short (S) and long (L) allele has been associated with severity of substance abuse.
A significant correlation between the presence/absence of the disorder and the length of the MAOCA-1 repeat was found in males, but not females, with "long" alleles (repeat length above 115 bp) associated with both increased risk for the disorder and lower age of onset of substance abuse.
Allelic variants at the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) locus are candidates to contribute to genetic components of interindividual differences in vulnerability to substance abuse.
Analyses were conducted on respondents who completed Waves 1 and 2 of the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions and met DSM-IV criteria for substance abuse and dependence prior to but not during the year before the Wave 1 interview (n = 5,515).