J Korean Neuropsychiatr Assoc.  2006 Sep;45(5):444-452.

Association Study between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Val-158-Met Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Gene Polymorphism in Korea

• Cheon KA
• Kim SJ
• Kim CH
• Koo MS
• Nam YY
• Park SH
• Lee HS

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
The definite cause of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is still unknown. Evidences from familial, twin and segregation studies support the role of a genetic factor. There are also growing evidence indicating that OCD has specific neurochemical and neuroanatomical basis. Derived from the effectiveness of treatment with dopamine receptor blocker in certain part of OCD patients (eg. SSRI treatment-resistant OCD), several candidate genes related to dopamine dysregulation have been hypothesized to play an important role in the development of OCD. One of them is the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) gene. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between COMT and OCD in Korean population.
METHODS
124 OCD patients and 170 normal controls participated in this study. Genomic DNA was extracted from their blood. The genotypes and allele frequencies of the COMT polymorphism between OCD group and control group were compared. We investigated the association between severity of OCD assessed by Yale-Brown obsessive compulsive symptom scale (YBOCS) and Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS) scores and COMT polymorphism.
RESULTS
In this case-control study, we could not find any association between COMT gene polymorphism and development of OCD. In OCD group, patients with H/H genotype had significantly higher scores for the HDRS than those with H/L or L/L genotype.
CONCLUSION
In this study, there was no difference in genotype distributions of COMT between OCD and control groups. However, H/H genotype of COMT gene polymorphism might be related to depressive symptoms in OCD patients.

Keyword

OCD; COMT; Polymorphism; Depression

MeSH Terms

Case-Control Studies
Catechol O-Methyltransferase*
Depression
DNA
Dopamine
Gene Frequency
Genotype
Humans
Korea*
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder*
Receptors, Dopamine
Catechol O-Methyltransferase
DNA
Dopamine
Receptors, Dopamine