Genetic association of the rs4680 COMT and rs1044396 CHRNA4 with internet addiction in Siberian adolescents

Marina Smolnikova¹, Sergey Tereshchenko^2
1Laboratory of cell-molecular physiology and pathology Scientific Research Institute of Medical Problems of the North FRC KSC SB RAS Krasnoyarsk, Russia, smarinv@yandex.ru
²Clinical department somatic and mental health of children Scientific Research Institute of Medical Problems of the North FRC KSC SB RAS Krasnoyarsk, Russia, legise@mail.ru

Abstract As the use of the Internet grows, the issue of the pathological and problematic Internet use (PIU) as well as online games has been relevant. Research related to a family history of temperament and mental disorders has rapidly been developing. Having the genetic component of developing Internet addiction was shown by twin studies using various populations, however, to date, the specific genes involved in the mechanisms of such heritability are not exactly identified. Materials: Genotyping of rs4680 COMT and rs1044396 CHRNA4 in 345 adolescents with different severity of internet addiction (tested with Chen Internet Addiction Scale) were analyzed. Results: The predominant allelic variant rs4680*G COMT in Khakass teenagers regardless of the severity of Internet addiction compared with Russian teenagers have been shown. It is important that some significant differences have also been observed between Russian PIU (45.5%) and Khakas PIU (63.8%) (OR 0.47, p = 0.024). We revealed that rs1044396 CC genotype prevalence progressively increase with IA severity: AIU group (n=179) – 19.0%, MIU group (n=82) – 32.9%, and PIU group (n=84) – 34.5%. The CC variant of rs1044396 CHRNA4 showed significantly higher anxiety scores as compared with carriers of T-allele. Our results correspond to similar results in the adult in another populations and are pilot in Russia; they are important for understanding the pathogenesis of IA at an early stage of addiction formation.