Family-based and case-control association studies of glutamate receptor GRIK3 Ser310Ala polymorphism in Polish patients and families with alcohol dependence

The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the GRIK3 functional polymorphism (Ser310Ala) in the pathogenesis of alcoholism. This polymorphism was investigated in two types of studies: (1) the association study in a whole group of alcoholics (116 patients fulfilling ICD-10 alcohol dependence (AD) criteria and 255 controls, Polish descent) and homogenous overlapping subgroups of patients with: a history of delirium tremens and/or alcohol seizures, early age of onset of alcoholism (AOO < 26 years), a co-occurrence of dissocial personality disorder, a history of familial alcoholism; (2) the family-based study (using Transmission Disequilibrium Test (TDT) in 100 Polish families with alcohol dependence). The history of alcoholism was obtained using SSAGA (Polish version). GRIK3 functional polymorphism was determined using PCR. TDT revealed an adequate transmission of both alleles to the affected offspring in the whole group of alcohol families (29 × Ser, 24 × Ala; χ2 = 0.472; d.f. = 1; p = 0.492) and in the homogenous subgroups of families. No significant associations between any of the above mentioned alcohol phenotypes and Ser310 allele were observed (the whole AD group: p = 0.66 AD with delirium and/or seizures: p = 0.521; early onset AD: p = 0.868; AD with familial history of alcoholism: p = 0.798 and AD with dissocial personality disorder: p = 0.618). These findings do not seem to support the hypothesis of the role of this polymorphism in the pathogenesis of alcoholism.