Ethnicity and alcohol dependence: Phenotypes, genes, and the social environment

描述（由申请人提供）：酒精健康差异研究表明，尽管白人酒精依赖的患病率较高，但黑人和西班牙裔人因饮酒和更严重的酒精依赖而遭受更多不利的社会和健康影响。对种族酒精差异如何发展和持续的科学理解落后于对它们的认识。长期的职业目标，为候选人的辅导研究科学家发展奖（K 01）的应用程序，卡伦G。Chartier博士的研究旨在更好地了解影响少数民族酒精后果的遗传，社会和宏观环境因素之间的相互关系。这个特殊应用的目的是测试酒精代谢基因与黑人和西班牙裔酒精依赖相关表型的关系，并研究酒精依赖严重程度的基因-环境相互作用。这些目标将通过检查三个具体目标来实现：1）评估酒精代谢等位基因对酒精依赖症状和饮酒不良反应的影响; 2）测试社会因素作为酒精依赖严重程度遗传易感性的调节因子; 3）检查邻里社会因素对酒精依赖严重程度和遗传易感性的影响。拟议的研究将利用先前从酒精中毒遗传学合作研究（COGA）收集的数据和美国人口普查局公开提供的数据，这些数据描述了人口普查区一级的社区特征。受试者为黑人、西班牙裔和白色成人COGA受试者，年龄≥ 18岁，包括受酒精中毒影响和未受影响的受试者。这项研究是创新的，因为它：检查遗传因素在未充分研究的黑人和西班牙裔人口;调查酒精代谢基因的关系，以更狭义的酒精症状;并测试社会环境和酒精依赖严重程度的遗传易感性之间的关系。候选人将在Raul Caetano，MD，PhD和一个共同导师团队的指导下进行拟议的研究，以获得酒精依赖表型，少数民族遗传学研究以及检查遗传和社会因素的方法的专业知识。培训活动将包括遗传学和高级统计应用、空间数据地理编码、研究道德和遗传学方面的课程和辅导。最终，这种培训将准备候选人在酒精研究中整合遗传和社会变量，并将促进她对健康差异研究的贡献。预计这项研究将推动酒精遗传学研究的进展，并进一步努力解释黑人、西班牙裔和白人酒精严重程度的差异。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Alcohol health disparities research shows that, despite higher prevalence rates of alcohol dependence for whites, blacks and Hispanics experience more adverse social and health effects from drinking and greater alcohol dependence severity. The scientific understanding for how ethnic alcohol disparities develop and are sustained has lagged behind their recognition. The long-term career goal for the candidate of this Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01) application, Karen G. Chartier, PhD, is to better understand the interrelationships between genetic, social, and macro-environment factors that affect alcohol consequences for ethnic minority groups. The objectives for this particular application are to test the relationship of alcohol metabolizing genes to phenotypes relevant to alcohol dependence for blacks and Hispanics, and to investigate gene-environment interactions for alcohol dependence severity. These objectives will be accomplished by examining three specific aims: 1) to evaluate the effect of alcohol metabolizing alleles on alcohol dependence symptoms and adverse reactions to drinking; 2) to test social factors as moderators of genetic susceptibility for alcohol dependence severity; and 3) to examine the effects of neighborhood social factors on alcohol dependence severity and genetic susceptibility. The proposed studies will utilize previously collected data from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) and publicly available data from the U.S. Census Bureau that describe neighborhood characteristics at the census tract level. Subjects will be black, Hispanic, and white adult COGA subjects, ages 18 years and older, including those affected and unaffected by alcoholism. This research is innovative because it: examines genetic factors in understudied black and Hispanic populations; investigates relationships for alcohol metabolizing genes to more narrowly defined alcohol symptoms; and tests the relationships between the social environment and genetic susceptibility for alcohol dependence severity. The candidate will conduct the proposed research under the mentorship of Raul Caetano, MD, PhD and a team of co-mentors to gain expertise in phenotypes for alcohol dependence, genetics research with ethnic minority groups, and methodologies for examining genetic and social factors. Training activities will include coursework and mentoring in genetics and advanced statistical applications, geocoding for spatial-based data, research ethics, and grantsmanship. Ultimately, this training will prepare the candidate to integrate genetic and social variables in alcohol studies and will facilitate her contribution to health disparities research. It is anticipaed that the proposed studies will lead to advances in alcohol genetics research and further efforts to explain the differences in alcohol severity for blacks, Hispanics, and whites.