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Rehab News: Gene variant linked to alcoholism following sexual abuse

Researchers have found that a particular gene variant may influence whether or not a female is likely to develop alcoholism after suffering sexual abuse during childhood.

Scientists have for a long time attempted to determine why some people are more resilient to childhood trauma than others, and the team from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) believe this particular gene variant may hold the clue.

NIAAA director Dr Ting-Kai Li commented: "This finding underscores the central role that gene-environment interactions play in the pathogenesis of complex diseases such as alcoholism."

The researchers studied the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, which has previously been linked with behavioural problems stemming from childhood mistreatment.

They found that a variant of the gene which results in low MAOA enzyme activity influences the impact of childhood sexual abuse on alcoholism, with women who had been sexually abused in childhood being "much more likely" to require alcohol treatment in the future if they had the gene variant.

The researchers believe that the interaction may be due to the gene's effect on the region of the brain responsible for processing emotional experience.

The study is published in the online version of Molecular Psychiatry.