This study investigated the possible effect of the pseudodeficient N-glycosylation polymorphism of the arylsulfatase A (ASA) gene on alcohol dependence among Koreans. Alcoholic patients (N=123) were more likely than control subjects to be heterozygous or homozygous for the ASA pseudodeficient N-glycosylation site (36% of alcoholics versus 20% of controls; P<0.01). Among these 123 alcoholic patients, 42 alcoholics were heterozygous and two were homozygous for the ASA pseudodeficient N-glycosylation polymorphism. This result provides evidence that the ASA pseudodeficient N-glycosylation site allele increases the risk of alcohol dependence within a Korean population.
Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.