Researchers have identified a gene associated with a person's "appetite" for alcohol, potentially paving a way for a pharmaceutical treatment of alcoholism.
Alcohol drinking is a complex, heritable trait, but few genes are known to be associated with it.
To identify genes associated with alcohol moderation, David J Mangelsdorf from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and colleagues performed a genome-wide study analysing alcohol intake in more than 105,000 individuals of European descent.
The authors of the study, published in journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, identified a variant of the gene encoding b-Klotho - essential for the hormones FGF21 and FGF19 - that was associated with alcohol consumption.
FGF21 has been previously associated with an increased preference for sugar in mice.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
The authors of the US and UK study found that mice lacking b-Klotho in the brain showed significantly increased alcohol preference and consumption, compared with mice with b-Klotho.
Administration of FGF21 failed to inhibit alcohol preference in mice lacking b-Klotho, suggesting that the effects of FGF21 on alcohol consumption depend on b-Klotho expression in the brain.
It was also found that mice lacking b-Klotho did not show any difference in measures of anxiety, compared with mice with b-Klotho.
According to the authors, the results suggest that a pathway operating between the liver and brain and involving FGF21 and b-Klotho plays a role in regulating alcohol drinking in humans.
It's hoped this could serve as a potential "pharmacologic target" for reducing alcohol consumption by reducing their cravings.
