Abstract

Stressful conditions and social situations may influence a person's alcohol consumption which can lead to the development of alcoholism. However, family, twin and adoption srudies suggest that alcoholism exhibits a genetic trait. The angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), which plays an important role in the regulation of vascular function, blood pressure and inflammation, has the insertion (I)/deletion (D) polymorphism in intron 16 of ACE gene. Many studies have shown that ACE gene polymorphism in strongly associated with various complex diseases. To find the genetic effect on alcoholism, especially the relationship between ACE gene and alcoholism, we investigated ACE I/D polymorphism in 127 Korean male alcoholism patients and 333 healthy non-alcoholic males. The ACE gene genotype distribution (p = 0.0545, (x² = 5.8200) was not significantly different between alcoholism patients and the controls. However, the allele frequency (p =0.0269, (x²= 4.8999, odds ratio = 1.3896, 95% confidence interval = 1.0379 - 1.8605) was significantly different between alcoholism patients and control subjects. This result suggests that the ACE gene I/D polymorphism has a weak association with the development of alcoholism in Korean male population.

• Keywords: Alcoholism, Angiotensin converting enzyme, Polymorphism;