The COMT gene variant is associated with depression's decreased positive affect symptoms in Chinese adults

Abstract

This study examined the association between the COMT Val(158) Met genotype and depression symptoms. A total of 326 Chinese adults who experienced the deadly 2008 Wenchuan earthquake and lost children during the disaster participated in this study. Depression symptoms were measured using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) was successfully genotyped using the MassARRAY system. Results indicated that although the Val(158) Met genotype was not associated with total depression symptoms, it was significantly correlated with decreased positive affect symptoms of depression in males. The findings indicated that COMT may play an important functional role in the development of depression, and contribute to the extant knowledge of the genetic basis and sex-specific expression of symptoms in depression.

Haplotypic and Genotypic Association of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase rs4680 and rs4818 Polymorphisms and Treatment Resistance in Schizophrenia

“…Great amount of the data demonstrating gender differences in association of COMT gene with various personality traits, phenotypes, cognitive domains and behaviors, came from studies that enrolled healthy individuals ( Eley et al, 2003 ; Enoch et al, 2003 ; Olsson et al, 2005 ; Stein et al, 2005 ; Kim et al, 2006 ; Barnett et al, 2007 ; Lang et al, 2007 ; de Castro-Catala et al, 2015 ; Costa et al, 2016 ). However, sexual dimorphism of COMT gene has been also reported in various neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety disorders, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder ( Karayiorgou et al, 1997 , 1999 ; Domschke et al, 2004 , 2007 ; Poyurovsky et al, 2005 ; Denys et al, 2006 ; Rothe et al, 2006 ; Pooley et al, 2007 ; Cao et al, 2014 ; Akutagava-Martins et al, 2016 ). In addition, our results are in line with other studies demonstrating sex-specific associations of COMT variants in patients with schizophrenia ( Shifman et al, 2002 ; Dempster et al, 2006 ; Rybakowski et al, 2006 ; Lee and Kim, 2011 ).…”

Towards a dimensional model of depression: Evidence from Chinese samples

“…The study by Cao et al. () provided further evidence of a dimensional construct of depression. Cao and colleagues analyzed how a specific gene was related to depressive symptoms in a highly stressed adult sample.…”