Ball David
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, De Crespigny Park, London, UK.
Addiction. 2008 Mar;103(3):360-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2007.02061.x. Epub 2007 Nov 27.
To assess the progress and impact of genetic studies in the addictions arena and to present this information in a form accessible to the general readership of Addiction.
Review of the evidence that genes are involved in addiction, approaches to their identification, current findings and the potential implications.
Family, twin and adoption studies provide strong evidence that addiction runs in families and that this is determined in part by genetic factors. Two main molecular genetic approaches, namely linkage and association, have been adopted to identify the specific genes involved. Both methods are fraught with problems. Linkage is limited by issues of sensitivity, and association by false positives. Perhaps the strongest finding in psychiatric genetics to date is the impressive effect that a single genetic variant, in the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 gene, has on drinking behaviour and reducing the risk of developing alcohol dependence. Other findings are currently less robust; however, the implications of elucidating the genetic underpinning of addiction will be profound.
Addiction genetics is a developing science that has yet to prove its worth in the clinical setting.
评估成瘾领域基因研究的进展与影响，并以《成瘾》普通读者可理解的形式呈现这些信息。
回顾基因与成瘾相关的证据、基因识别方法、当前研究结果及潜在影响。
家族、双生子和收养研究提供了有力证据，表明成瘾具有家族遗传性，且部分由遗传因素决定。已采用两种主要的分子遗传学方法，即连锁分析和关联分析，来识别相关特定基因。这两种方法都存在诸多问题。连锁分析受敏感性问题限制，关联分析则受假阳性影响。迄今为止，精神遗传学领域最显著的发现或许是醛脱氢酶2基因中的单一遗传变异对饮酒行为及降低酒精依赖风险具有显著影响。其他研究结果目前尚不那么确凿；然而，阐明成瘾的遗传基础所产生的影响将是深远的。
成瘾遗传学是一门尚在发展的科学，尚未在临床环境中证明其价值。
