Although a polymorphism in this gene, COMTVal(158)Met, affects human behavior in response to stress little is known about its effect on dopaminergic activity associated with the human stress response, which may be of interest for stress-related psychiatric disorders such as psychosis.
In women, low expression of MAOA (MAOA-L) was related significantly to greater happiness (0.261 SD increase with one L-allele, 0.522 SD with two L-alleles, P=0.002) after adjusting for the potential effects of age, education, household income, marital status, employment status, mental disorder, physical health, relationship quality, religiosity, abuse history, recent negative life events and self-esteem use in linear regression models.
A functional promoter polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene has been implicated in neuropsychiatric disorders and also moderates the association between early-life stress and mental disorders, which often co-occur with cardiovascular disease.
Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) has been associated with aggression, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other psychiatric disorders.
Many association studies have reported associations between the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene and psychiatric disorders including major depression (MDD).
Many clinical and genomic association studies suggested that the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene region was an important genetic locus for psychiatric disorders, because of the proposed relationship between its function in catecholaminergic neurotransmission and individual response to antidepressants, and vulnerability to psychiatric disorders.
One of its most widely studied variations comprises a common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP), a valine-to-methionine substitution at codon 158 (COMTVal158Met), which has been associated with various cognitive phenotypes, psychiatric disorders and changes in brain activation and structure.
We evaluated the association of the variable number tandem repeat of the MAOA promoter with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, ASP disorder (ASPD) traits in a community sample of 435 participants from the Hopkins Epidemiology of Personality Disorders Study.
These preliminary data suggest that low COMT activity may affect dopamine levels in striatum in humans and this may have implications for understanding the contribution of COMT activity to psychiatric disorders.
To examine, in a sample of young psychiatric patients, (n = 157, mean age 17.01 years (SD = 3.6)) whether i) age at first cannabis use and age at emergence of psychiatric disorders are related and ii) such a relationship is modulated by the Val158Met polymorphism in the COMT gene.
This review tries to cover the literature on the impact of gene variants implicated in psychiatric disorders on serotonin, dopamine, and MAO-A radioligand binding in living humans.
This study examined the association of COMT with salivary cortisol across a 1-year period in healthy and at-risk adolescents with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision Axis II diagnoses.
A variation in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene (Val(108/158)Met) affects the physiological response of hippocampal-prefrontal circuits, predicts variation in human memory and is associated with increased risk for psychiatric disorders.
The Val158Met polymorphism of the gene encoding catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is one of the most widely tested variants for association with psychiatric disorders, but replication has been inconsistent including both sex limitation and heterogeneity of the associated allele.
We conclude that methylation of MAOA may play a significant role in common psychiatric illness and that further examination of epigenetic processes at this locus is in order.
Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT): a gene contributing to sex differences in brain function, and to sexual dimorphism in the predisposition to psychiatric disorders.
The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene contains a functional polymorphism, Val158Met which has been related to common diseases like cancer, psychiatric illness and myocardial infarction.