The association of exon 3 VNTR polymorphism of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene with alcoholism in Mexican Americans

Abstract

In this study, the variable number tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism of a 48-bp sequence located in exon 3 of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene was genotyped in 365 alcoholic and 337 non-alcoholic Mexican Americans. Logistic regression showed that genotypes without the 7-repeat allele were risk factors for alcoholism. However, linear regression did not find an association between DRD4 VNTR and MAXDRINKS, which was defined as the maximum number of drinks consumed within 24 h. Our results indicate the presence of an association between DRD4 VNTR and alcoholism in Mexican Americans.