Carriers of at least one rs279858(G) allele respond slower to the effects of alcohol and are thereby apparently more prone to alcoholism than carriers of two rs279858(A) alleles. Finasteride, an FDA approved drug for the treatment of benign prostatic hypertrophy and a modulator of GABRA2, was shown to have more of a blocking effect on rs279858(A) homozygotes. [PMID 15702134]
Note that nearby SNPs have been grouped into a haplotype that shows statistically stronger association with alcohol dependence, namely the haplotype consisting of the rs279871(A) + rs279845(T) + rs279836(A) alleles [PMID 15024690].
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