Alleles Frequency and Polymorphic Genes Genotypes Associated with Alcoholism in Kazakh Population

Background: There is a category of people with a congenial predisposition to alcohol abuse among the total population. The identification of such persons by molecular genetic diagnostics and the implementation of appropriate preventive measures can significantly reduce the incidence of alcoholism. Objectives: This research aimed to study the genetic foundations of alcohol dependence development in Kazakhs based on the analysis of population frequencies of polymorphic variants of predisposition to alcoholism genes. Materials and Methods: The material for the research was the DNA recovered from the peripheral blood of the recruited control group population, which was represented by 1,800 conditionally healthy individuals of Kazakh nationality. Isolated DNA samples were genotyped by PCR. Conclusions: Kazakhs take an intermediate position between the previously studied European and Asian populations by allele frequencies of nine polymorphic variants of ADH1B (rs2066701, rs1789891), ADH1C (rs1693425, rs698), HTR2C (rs6318), ALDH2 (rs671), CADM2 (rs9841829), KLB (rs11940694), DRD2 (rs1076560) genes. Possible markers of an increased risk of alcoholism development in Kazakhs are G alleles of polymorphic loci rs2066701 of the ADH1B gene and rs671 of the ALDH2 gene, and the protective effect is possible in the presence of A alleles rs2066701 of the ADH1B gene and rs671 of the ALDH2 gene.