No association between Serotonin 2A receptor -1438 A/G polymorphism and smoking behavior in young Korean male subjects

Smoking behavior has been regarded as being influenced by genetic factors. The aim of this study was to investigate if the -1438 A/G polymorphism of the Serotonin 2A receptor (5-HTR2A) gene is related to nicotine dependence, since this receptor modulates the mesolimbic dopamine system which is associated with drug addiction. The Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence was used to determine the smoking behavior. A genotyping based PCR method was performed in 72 smokers and 134 nonsmokers. The -1438 A/G SNP showed no significant difference between the smokers and non-smokers in either the genotype or the allele frequency (p=0.84, p=0.85). These findings suggest that the -1438 A/G polymorphism of 5-HTR2A does not play a major role in the susceptibility to nicotine dependence in the Korean population.