Chunk #18 — 3. Pharmacogenetic Studies of Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder in Individuals of Diverse Ancestries — 3.1 Individuals of European Ancestry
Specifically, this SNP in GRIK1, appears to moderate the effect of topiramate treatment on drinking reduction,41 such that C/C homozygotes receiving topiramate significantly reduced their frequency of heavy drinking days relative to C/C homozygotes who received placebo. This effect, however, was not present in A allele carriers. A search of this SNP in the Database of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (dbSNP) Bethesda (MD): National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine,43 suggests that C/C homozygotes tend to be more prevalent (35–45%) among individuals of European ancestry based on data from the HapMap project, as about 60% of individuals of European ancestry carry the C allele 43,44. While additional work is needed to identify novel SNPs and establish the clinical significance of these SNPs in relation to medication development, this research highlights the importance of personalized medicine across ethnicities.
