Gender-Specific Association between the COMT Val158Met Polymorphism and Openness to Experience in Panic Disorder Patients

Abstract

Background: Because major depression and panic disorder are both more prevalent among females and since several lines of evidence suggest that genetic factors might influence an individual's vulnerability to panic disorder, gene-gender interactions are being examined in such psychiatric disorders and mental traits. A number of studies have suggested that specific genes, e.g. catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), might lead to distinct clinical characteristics of panic disorder. Method: We compared gender-specific personality-related psychological factors of 470 individuals with panic disorder and 458 healthy controls in terms of their COMT Val158Met polymorphism and their scores on the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R) and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) with a 1-way analysis of covariance. Results: In the male panic disorder patients, the NEO PI-R score for openness to experience was significantly lower in the Met/Met carrier group, whereas there was no such association among the female panic disorder patients or the male or female control groups. Conclusion: The gender-specific effect of the COMT genotype suggests that the COMT Val/Met genotype may influence a personality trait, openness to experience, in males with panic disorder.

Predicting personality from network-based resting-state functional connectivity

“…Despite the lack of studies exploring a direct relationship between females’ hormonal cycling and the trait of Openness, there is evidence for its indirect modulation by estrogen. That is, the catechol- O -methyltransferase gene, which is associated with the trait of Openness (Konishi et al 2014), is influenced by estrogen (Harrison and Tunbridge 2008). We thus suggest that the influence of ovarian hormones on RSFC in the Rew network as well as on perceived Openness induces joint intra-individual variation (i.e., shared variance), which in turn increases the strength of the neural and phenotypical association across women.…”

Psychometric Properties of the Chinese Version of the Neuroticism Subscale of the NEO-PI

“…For example, women diagnosed with many mental disorders (e.g., phobias, major depression, dysthymic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, borderline personality disorder) were associated with neuroticism at a higher rate than men (Grossman and Wood, 1993 ). Although there were many previous researches supporting the difference in neuroticism between men and women(Foot and Koszycki, 2010 ; Banzhaf et al, 2012 ; Konishi et al, 2014 ), only when the latent structure are equivalent across gender, the observed gender difference in neuroticism can truly predict the true difference between males and females.…”

Associations of endocrine stress‐related gene polymorphisms with risk of autism spectrum disorders: Evidence from an integrated meta‐analysis

“…On the other hand, the COMT gene, located on chromosome 22q11.2 [Grossman, Emanuel, & Budarf, ], encodes COMT, which contributes to the inactivation of catecholamines including adrenaline, noradrenaline, and dopamine. The COMT gene val158met polymorphism was found to be related to many physical as well as psychological diseases such as schizophrenia, depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, attention deficit, and hyperactivity and obsessive compulsive disorders [Barnett, Jones, Robbins, & Muller, ; Cao et al, ; Diaz‐Asper et al, ; He et al, ; Jones et al, ; Konishi et al, ; Lachman, Nolan, Mohr, Saito, & Volavka, ; Liu et al, ; Massat et al, ; Melo‐Felippe et al, ; Qian et al, ; Sampaio et al, ; Seok et al, ; Shimada et al, ; Tukel et al, ; Villemonteix et al, ; Wagner et al, ; Watanabe et al, ; Zhang et al, ]. Val158met polymorphism exerts a significant effect on COMT enzyme activity; the Val allele is associated with high enzymatic activity resulting in lower prefrontal dopamine levels in vivo [Lachman et al, ].…”