Yale University Child Study Center, New Haven, Connecticut 06519, USA.
Aggress Behav. 2010 May-Jun;36(3):158-76. doi: 10.1002/ab.20339.
A number of dopamine-related genes have been implicated in the etiology of violent behavior and conduct problems. Of these genes, the ones that code for the enzymes that influence the turnover of dopamine (DA) have received the most attention. In this study, we investigated 12 genetic polymorphisms in four genes involved with DA functioning (COMT, MAOA and MAOB, and DbetaH) in 179 incarcerated male Russian adolescents and two groups of matched controls: boys without criminal records referred to by their teachers as (a) "troubled-behavior-free" boys, n=182; and (b) "troubled-behavior" boys, n=60. The participants were classified as (1) being incarcerated or not, (2) having the DSM-IV diagnosis of conduct disorder (CD) or not, and (3) having committed violent or nonviolent crimes (for the incarcerated individuals only). The findings indicate that, although no single genetic variant in any of the four genes differentiated individuals in the investigated groups, various linear combinations (i.e., haplotypes) and nonlinear combinations (i.e., interactions between variants within and across genes) of genetic variants resulted in informative and robust classifications for two of the three groupings. These combinations of genetic variants differentiated individuals in incarceration vs. nonincarcerated and CD vs. no-CD groups; no informative combinations were established consistently for the grouping by crime within the incarcerated individuals. This study underscores the importance of considering multiple rather than single markers within candidate genes and their additive and interactive combinations, both with themselves and with nongenetic indicators, while attempting to understand the genetic background of such complex behaviors as serious conduct problems.
一些与多巴胺相关的基因已被牵涉到暴力行为和行为问题的病因学中。在这些基因中，那些编码影响多巴胺（DA）周转率的酶的基因受到了最多的关注。在这项研究中，我们研究了四个与 DA 功能相关的基因（COMT、MAOA 和 MAOB、DbetaH）中的 12 个遗传多态性，在 179 名被监禁的俄罗斯男性青少年和两组匹配的对照组中进行了研究：由他们的老师称为（a）“无问题行为”的男孩的没有犯罪记录的男孩，n=182；和（b）“有问题行为”的男孩，n=60。参与者被分为（1）是否被监禁，（2）是否有 DSM-IV 行为障碍（CD）诊断，以及（3）是否犯有暴力或非暴力犯罪（仅针对被监禁者）。研究结果表明，尽管四个基因中的任何一个基因都没有单一的遗传变异可以区分研究组中的个体，但遗传变异的各种线性组合（即单倍型）和非线性组合（即基因内和基因间变异之间的相互作用）导致了两种分组的信息丰富且稳健的分类。这些遗传变异组合区分了监禁与非监禁个体以及 CD 与非 CD 个体；在被监禁者中，没有建立一致的关于犯罪分组的信息丰富组合。这项研究强调了考虑候选基因内的多个而不是单个标记及其加性和交互组合的重要性，无论是与自身还是与非遗传指标一起，同时试图理解严重行为问题等复杂行为的遗传背景。
