Abstract
BackgroundAttention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and highly heritable childhood disorder. The dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene has shown a genetic association with ADHD in Caucasian populations with meta-analysis indicating a small but significant effect across datasets. It remains uncertain whether this association can be generalised to non-Caucasian ethnic groups. Here we investigate two markers within the DRD4 gene in a Taiwanese population, the exon 3 variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) and a 5' 120 base-pair duplication.MethodsWithin-family transmission disequilibrium tests of association of the 5' 120 base-pair duplication, and exon 3 VNTR in a Taiwanese population.ResultsNo evidence of association of ADHD with either polymorphism in this population was observed.ConclusionThe DRD4 gene markers investigated were not found to be associated with ADHD in this Taiwanese sample. Further work in Taiwanese and other Asian populations will therefore be required to establish whether the reports of association of DRD4 genetic variants in Caucasian samples can be generalised to Asian populations.
Highlights
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and highly heritable childhood disorder
One of the more consistent findings is the association with the 7repeat allele of a 48-base pair variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) in exon 3 of D4 receptor gene (DRD4) there are a number of negative reports and discrepancies between case control and within family studies [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22]
The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) data revealed that neither marker investigated is associated with ADHD in this sample, either individually, or when combined together into a haplotype (Tables 1 and 2)
Summary
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent and highly heritable childhood disorder. The dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene has shown a genetic association with ADHD in Caucasian populations with meta-analysis indicating a small but significant effect across datasets. It remains uncertain whether this association can be generalised to non-Caucasian ethnic groups. We investigate two markers within the DRD4 gene in a Taiwanese population, the exon 3 variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) and a 5' 120 base-pair duplication. Of particular interest is a 120-bp duplication that has been (page number not for citation purposes)
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