The Dopamine D2 Receptor Gene and Alcoholism-Reply

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Abstract
In Reply.— Blum et al1evaluated a D2receptor polymorphism in 35 alcoholics and 35 nonalcoholics. Their subjects were dead and therefore were not psychiatrically interviewed. We2compared 40 interviewed alcoholics with 127 non-diagnosed population controls and reanalyzed two families by genetic linkage. We also tested a second marker at the D2locus. Both letters address only our population study and theTaqI restriction fragment length polymorphism data. Blum et al did not provide data for age of onset, severity, presence or absence of antisocial personality, or family history of alcoholism. These factors correlate with increased genetic risk for alcoholism. In our alcoholics, none of these variables was associated with either D2polymorphism. Also, both families with early-onset alcoholism provided evidence against linkage. As Noble and Blum state, it may be of interest that the "Al" allele was present in more of our "severe"

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