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Genetics of GABAergic signaling in nicotine and alcohol dependence

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Abstract

Both nicotine and alcohol addictions are common chronic brain disorders that are of great concern to individuals and society. Although genetics contributes significantly to these disorders, the susceptibility genes and variants underlying them remain largely unknown. Many years of genome-wide linkage and association studies have implicated a number of genes and pathways in the etiology of nicotine and alcohol addictions. In this communication, we focus on current evidence, primarily from human genetic studies, supporting the involvement of genes and variants in the GABAergic signaling system in the etiology of nicotine dependence and alcoholism based on linkage, association, and gene-by-gene interaction studies. Current efforts aim not only to replicate these findings in independent samples, but also to identify which variant contributes to the detected associations and through what molecular mechanisms.

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Acknowledgments

The preparation of this review was provided in part by DA-012844. We thank Dr. David L Bronson for his excellent editing of this manuscript. We also thank Dr. Jinxue Wei for performing part of the experiments reported in Fig. 3.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

    Wen-Yan Cui & Ming D. Li

  2. National Key Laboratory of Protein and Plant Gene Research, College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Wen-Yan Cui & Jun Gu

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences, University of Virginia, 1670 Discovery Drive, Suite 110, Charlottesville, VA, 22911, USA

    Chamindi Seneviratne & Ming D. Li

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  1. Wen-Yan Cui
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  2. Chamindi Seneviratne
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  3. Jun Gu
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Correspondence to Ming D. Li.

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Cui, WY., Seneviratne, C., Gu, J. et al. Genetics of GABAergic signaling in nicotine and alcohol dependence. Hum Genet 131, 843–855 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-011-1108-4

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