SY32-1GENETICS OF ALCOHOLISM IN KOREAN POPULATION, REPRESENTING EAST ASIAN PEOPLE

Alcoholism is influenced by many biopsychosocial factors, among them genetic factor is most important. The genetic polymorphisms in alcohol dehydrogenase 1B (His47Arg) and aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (Glu487Lys) have dramatic effects on the rate of metabolizing alcohol and acetaldehyde, respectively. Individuals bearing susceptible alleles at both loci have 91 times greater risk for alcoholism and individuals bearing one susceptible and one protective allele at either loci have 11 times greater risk compared with subjects who have both protective alleles. Genome-wide association study (GWAS) also revealed that two chromosome regions on Chr. 4q22-q23 (ADH gene cluster) and Chr. 12q24 (ALDH2) showed multiple association signals of the risk of alcoholism in Korea. Copy number variations (CNVs) of a Korean population (total n = 1,138) showed that the chr20:61195302-61195978 regions were significantly associated with the risk of alcoholism after multiple corrections (p = 5.02E-05, p(corr) = 0.04). We found that artificial microRNA targeting neurokinin-1 receptor (amiNK1R) decreased the voluntary alcohol consumption compared to mice injected with a negative control amiRNA (amiNC). In conclusion, genes such as ADH1B and ALDH2 determine drinking behavior and alcoholism. But we can prevent or control alcoholism by using epigenetic mechanism, like microRNA targeting vulnerable genes for alcoholism.