No association of the dopamine transporter gene 3′ VNTR polymorphism with ADHD subtypes in a population sample of twins

Abstract

Dopamine pathway genes have been the subject of a variety of studies testing the association of candidate genes and liability for attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Due to the known effects of stimulant medications such as methylphenidate on the dopamine transporter, a variety of case control and family‐based transmission distortion genetic studies of ADHD have focused on DAT1 polymorphisms. The most widely reported positive finding has been with a variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism of unknown function in the 3′ untranslated region of the DAT1 gene. In this report, we test for association of alleles of this polymorphism with ADHD using population‐derived samples of twins. We use the transmission disequilibrium test and ADHD subtypes defined by both DSM‐IV and latent class criteria. We fail to demonstrate any significant association or trend for association of any of the VNTR alleles with any of the variously defined ADHD subtypes.