Genotypic interaction between DRD4 and DAT1 loci is a high risk factor for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in Chilean families

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, ADHD [MIM 126452], is a common, highly heritable neurobiological disorder of childhood onset, characterized by hyperactivity, impulsiveness, and/or inattentiveness. As part of an ongoing study of ADHD, we carried out a family-based discordant sib-pair analysis to detect possible associations between dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) and dopamine transporter 1 (DAT1) polymorphisms and ADHD in Chilean families. Both loci individually classified as homozygotes or heterozygotes for the DRD4 7-repeat and DAT1 10-repeat alleles, did not exhibit genotype frequency differences between affected children and their healthy siblings (Fisher's exact test P > 0.25 in both cases). However, the simultaneous presence of both DRD4 7-repeat heterozygosity and DAT1 10 allele homozygosity were significantly higher (34.6%) in cases (26), compared with their unaffected siblings (25) (4%; Fisher's exact test P = 0.0096; odds-ratio, OR = 12.71). Increased density of dopamine transporter in ADHD brains, along with abundance of 7-repeat D4 receptors in prefrontal cortex, which is impaired in ADHD patients, make the observed gene-gene interaction worthy of further incisive studies.