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Genetic associations between ADHD and dopaminergic genes (DAT1 and DRD4) VNTRs in Korean children

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Abstract

It is well known that dopaminergic genes affect the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in various populations. Many studies have shown that variable number tandem repeats (VNTRs) located within the 3′-untranslated region of DAT1 and in exon 3 of DRD4 are associated with ADHD development; however, these results were inconsistent. Therefore, we investigated the genetic association between two VNTRs and ADHD in Korean children. We determined the VNTRs using PCR. We examined genotype and allele frequency differences between the experimental and control groups, along with the odds ratios, using Chi square and exact tests. We observed a significant association between the children with ADHD and the control group in the 10R/10R genotype of DAT1 VNTRs (p = 0.025). In addition, the 11R allele of DAT1 VNTRs showed a higher frequency in the control group than in the ADHD group (p = 0.023). Also, the short repeat (without 11R) and long repeat alleles (including 11R) were associated with ADHD (p < 0.05). The analysis of DRD4 VNTRs revealed that the 2R allele is associated with ADHD (p = 0.025). A significant result was also observed in long and short repeats (p < 0.05). Additionally, ADHD subtypes showed that the DRD4 VNTRs are associated with combined and hyperactive-impulsive subtype groups (p < 0.05). Therefore, our results suggest that DAT1 VNTRs and DRD4 VNTRs play a role in the genetic etiology of ADHD in Korean children.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korea Government (NRF-2016R1D1A3B03933507).

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  1. Jun Ho Hong and In Wook Hwang have contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, College of Natural Science, Dankook University, Cheonan, 330-714, Republic of Korea

    Jun Ho Hong, In Wook Hwang & Han Jun Jin

  2. Department of Psychology and Psychotherapy, College of Health Sciences, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea

    Myung Ho Lim

  3. Department of Preventive Medicine, College of Medicine, Dankook University, Cheonan, Republic of Korea

    Ho Jang Kwon

  4. Enviromental Health Center, Dankook Medical Hospital, Cheonan, Republic of Korea

    In Wook Hwang, Myung Ho Lim, Ho Jang Kwon & Han Jun Jin

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  1. Jun Ho Hong
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Correspondence to Han Jun Jin.

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Jun Ho Hong, In Wook Hwang, Myung Ho Lim, Ho Jang Kwon, Han Jun Jin declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Dankook University Hospital.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Hong, J.H., Hwang, I.W., Lim, M.H. et al. Genetic associations between ADHD and dopaminergic genes (DAT1 and DRD4) VNTRs in Korean children. Genes Genom 40, 1309–1317 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13258-018-0726-9

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