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Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Gene Polymorphisms in Specific Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder Patients’ Subgroups

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Abstract

Pharmacological data and animal models support the hypothesis that the dopaminergic (DA) system is implicated in obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Therefore, this case–control study assessed whether genetics variations in catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) could influence susceptibility to OCD and OCD features in a Brazilian sample. A sample of 199 patients with OCD and 200 healthy individuals was genotyped for −287A > G (rs2075507) and Val158Met (rs4680) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) by TaqMan® or restriction mapping. We observed a statistically significant predominance of the Met low-activity allele in the male patient group as compared to the male healthy control group. The −287A > G polymorphism’s genotypes and alleles were significantly overrepresented among male individuals with ordering and female subjects with washing symptoms. We also found female hoarders to exhibit a significant higher frequency of the low activity Met/Met genotype of Val158Met polymorphism compared to female patients who did not express this dimension. Our data suggest an influence of COMT polymorphisms on OCD and OCD patients’ features, such as gender, and ordering, washing, and hoarding symptom dimensions. Further studies to confirm the clinical importance of COMT SNPs in OCD are warranted.

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Acknowledgments

We wish to thank all patients and healthy controls who volunteered to participate in this study. An additional thank you to all the relatives of the patients involved in this study. Financial support was provided by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq, Brazil), Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ, Brazil), and Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa, Pós Graduação e Inovação from Universidade Federal Fluminense (Proppi/PDI/UFF). The funding source(s) had no involvement in study design, in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data, in the writing of the report, and in the decision to submit the article for publication.

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  1. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), 24061-970, Niterói, RJ, Brazil

    Fernanda Brito Melo-Felippe, Isabele Gomes Giori, Tamiris Vieira-Fonseca & Fabiana Barzotti Kohlrausch

  2. Programa de Transtornos Obsessivo-Compulsivos e de Ansiedade, Instituto de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Juliana Braga de Salles Andrade & Leonardo Franklin Fontenelle

  3. Instituto D’Or de Pesquisa e Ensino (IDOR), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Juliana Braga de Salles Andrade & Leonardo Franklin Fontenelle

  4. School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Leonardo Franklin Fontenelle

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  1. Fernanda Brito Melo-Felippe
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  2. Juliana Braga de Salles Andrade
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Correspondence to Fabiana Barzotti Kohlrausch.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Melo-Felippe, F.B., de Salles Andrade, J.B., Giori, I.G. et al. Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Gene Polymorphisms in Specific Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder Patients’ Subgroups. J Mol Neurosci 58, 129–136 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-015-0697-0

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