The collaborative study on the genetics of alcoholism: an update

Alcohol Research & Health, Fall, 2002 by Howard J. Edenberg

The COGA data set is a rich resource for further research. For example, it has already provided a test of new methods for genetic analysis, as presented at the Genetic Analysis Workshop 11 (Begleiter et al. 1999). In addition, COGA researchers are currently re-interviewing participants as part of a 5-year followup. This strategy will allow the investigators to increase the reliability of the data and to refine the phenotypes, which in turn will enhance the power of the genetic analyses.

Finally, the large number of children and adolescents in the original sample will prove invaluable as these young people pass through the age of greatest risk for developing alcoholism. The value of the COGA data as a national resource for studies of alcoholism should increase with the re-interviews and with the development of new methods for both the determination and analysis of various genotypes. These efforts ultimately are expected to lead to the identification of genes that affect the risk for alcoholism and related phenotypes.

Acknowledgments

The Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism involves nine centers across the United States. The principal investigator of COGA is H. Begleiter, State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn, and co-principal investigator is T. Reich, Washington University. The study sites and their principal investigators and co-investigators are: Indiana University (T. K. Li; J. Nurnberger, Jr.; P.M. Conneally; H.J. Edenberg); University of Iowa (R. Crowe, S. Kuperman); University of California at San Diego (M. Schuckit); University of Connecticut (V. Hesselbrock); State University of New York, Health Science Center at Brooklyn (B. Porjesz, H. Begleiter); Washington University in St. Louis (T. Reich, C.R. Cloninger, J. Rice, A. Goate); Howard University (R. Taylor); Rutgers University (J. Tischfield); and Southwest Foundation (L. Almasy).

The author thanks Dr. Tatiana Foroud for helpful comments on the manuscript.

(1) The term "phenotype" refers to any observable characteristic or behavior of an individual.

(2) Alcohol dehydrogenase is an enzyme that helps break down alcohol in the body. Several ADH genes exist, each of which has several alleles.

(3) Quantitative traits are characteristics that are distributed along a continuum across a population, such as height.

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