skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Association analysis of the dopamine D{sub 2} receptor gene in Tourette`s syndrome using the haplotype relative risk method

Journal Article · · American Journal of Medical Genetics

Comings et al. have recently reported a highly significant association between Tourette`s syndrome (TS) and a restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) of the dopamine D{sub 2} receptor gene (DRD2) locus. The A1 allele of the DRD2 Taq I RFLP was present in 45% of the Tourette patients compared with 25% of controls. We tried to replicate this finding by using the haplotype relative risk (HRR) method for association analysis. This method overcomes a major problem of conventional case-control studies, where undetected ethnic differences between patients and controls may result in a false-positive finding, by using parental alleles not inherited by the proband as control alleles. Sixty-one nuclear families encompassing an affected child and parents were typed for the DRD2 Taq I polymorphism. No significant differences in DRD2 A1 allele frequency were observed between TS probands, sub-populations of probands classified according to tic severity, or parental control alleles. Our data do not support the hypothesis that the DRD2 locus may act as a modifying gene in the expression of the disorder in TS probands. 40 refs., 1 tab.

Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
OSTI ID:
135920
Journal Information:
American Journal of Medical Genetics, Vol. 54, Issue 3; Other Information: PBD: 15 Sep 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English