{"id":2972,"date":"2019-12-04T05:01:23","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T05:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2019-12-04T05:01:23","modified_gmt":"2019-12-04T05:01:23","slug":"genetic-testing-for-alcoholism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/genetic-testing-for-alcoholism\/","title":{"rendered":"Genetic Testing for Alcoholism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Alcoholism, which can also be called alcohol use disorder, affects an estimated 14.1 million adults in the United States (1). It has been linked to different SNPs in 6 main genes, all of which have to do with chemicals or hormones in the brain. OPRM1 and DRD2 are receptors for opioids and dopamine, respectively, while SLC6A3 and SLC6A4 are transporters of dopamine and serotonin. GABRA2 is a GABA receptor gene, and GABA is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. GHSR is the gene that is a receptor for growth hormones (2). The genes linked to alcoholism have to do with the chemical balance of the brain, because imbalance of those chemicals can lead to psychiatric disorders, such as alcoholism. While a person cannot be completely confident that they will develop alcoholism based on the presence of these genes, the genetic predisposition to alcoholism may be a reason to take preventative measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Image<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To test for alcoholism, I would\nrecommend a SNP chip. If there were a chip with the SNPs that are implicated in\nthe tendency towards alcoholism, it would only cost $300 to determine whether a\nperson has a tendency towards alcoholism. A person may want to get this test if\nthey are concerned about the development of alcoholism in their future. If they\nget the test, they can make the decision to be proactive about how much alcohol\nthey consume. However, even if the tests are positive, it does not mean that\nthey will definitely develop the disorder; it simply means they are at higher\nrisk because the mutations in their genes make a person more likely to have\nalcoholism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the studies on some of the SNPs that are considered to be linked to alcoholism have had mixed results. This means that we are not completely sure of the association between the SNP and alcoholism, so there are significant limitations to the degree to which the genetic tests can predict a person\u2019s likelihood of developing alcoholism. Other variants such as the environment that a person lives\/grew up in, may impact the likelihood of developing alcoholism as well, and those cannot be predicted by a genetic test (4). If someone tests positive for most of the SNPs that are associated with alcoholism, then they are at a higher risk for developing the disease. However, this still is not a guarantee of them getting it. Any lifestyle changes that a person chooses to implement based on positive results of the genetic tests may be completely unnecessary, and the person would have disrupted their life out of fear of a disease that they may never develop (5). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is still some debate as to whether alcoholism is\ngenetic or hereditary. If someone in the family has already tested positive for\nthe SNPs that are associated with alcoholism, other members of the family may\nbe at higher risk and should consider getting tested if they are worried about\ndeveloping the disease; however, this is not a guaranteed correlation. If a\nperson does test positive for the associated SNPs, they should monitor their\nalcohol consumption carefully, and perhaps ask a trusted friend or family\nmember to keep them accountable. If the person wants to take prevention very\nseriously, or if they have had issues with addiction in the past, they could\ngive up the drug altogether. The person should share the results of the test\nwith their doctor in order that their doctor can make decisions regarding\ntreatment plans with addictive medications, because addition to alcohol is\noften associated with other addictions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, people who are very\nconcerned about the possibility of developing alcoholism in their future could\ncomplete a genetic test that shows whether they have SNPs in their genes that\nare consistent with those linked to alcoholism. However, they must bear in mind\nthat even if they undergo the genetic testing and test positively, they may not\ndevelop the disease, and vice versa. Genetic testing for alcoholism has its\nlimits, and one cannot take the test and expect its results to be a guarantee\nof whether or not they will develop the disease. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u201cAlcohol Facts And Statistics.\u201d National Institute On Alcohol Abuse And Alcoholism (NIAAA), https:\/\/www.niaaa.nih.gov\/publications\/brochures-and-fact-sheets\/alcohol-facts-and-statistics. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alcoholism – SNPedia<\/em>. https:\/\/www.snpedia.com\/index.php\/Alcoholism. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cEffects Of Alcohol On The Body And The Brain – Alcohol\nRehab Guide.\u201d Alcohol Rehab<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Guide, https:\/\/www.alcoholrehabguide.org\/alcohol\/effects\/.\nAccessed 4 Dec. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIs Alcoholism Hereditary Or Genetic?\u201d American Addiction\nCenters, https:\/\/americanaddictioncenters.org\/alcoholism-treatment\/symptoms-and-signs\/hereditary-or-genetic.\nAccessed 4 Dec. 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat Are The Risks And Limitations Of Genetic Testing?\u201d\nGenetics Home Reference,\nhttps:\/\/ghr.nlm.nih.gov\/primer\/testing\/riskslimitations. Accessed 4 Dec. 2019.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alcoholism, which can also be called alcohol use disorder, affects an estimated 14.1 million adults in the United States (1). It has been linked to different SNPs in 6 main genes, all of which have to do with chemicals or hormones in the brain. OPRM1 and DRD2 are receptors for opioids and dopamine, respectively, while … Continue reading Genetic Testing for Alcoholism<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3180,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3180"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ctlsites.uga.edu\/biol2013h-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}