Korean J Psychopharmacol.  2006 Mar;17(2):197-202.

Difference of Val-158-Met Catechol-O-Methyltransferase Gene Polymorphism between Early- and Late-onset Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Korea

• Cheon KA
• Kim SJ
• Kim CH

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Many researches strongly suggest that early- and late-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) represent separate subtypes of the disorder, possibly with distinct underlying pathogeneses. The aim of this study was to determine the association between Val-158-Met Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) genotypes and the onset of OCD. METHOD: We recruited 124 OCD patients and classified them into an early-onset group (age of onset < or = 17 years) and a late onset-group (age of onset >17 years). From the blood, DNA was isolated using standard techniques and the COMT Val-158-Met polymorphism (H/H, H/L, and L/L) was genotyped. Each genotype consists of H (high activity) allele and L (low activity) allele. Genotype and allele frequencies of early-and late-onset OCD were analyzed by chi-square statistics.
RESULTS
The frequencies of H/H genotype and H allele in early-onset OCD group were significantly higher than late-onset OCD group (p=0.037 ; p=0.014).
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that COMT gene polymorphism might be an important factor in the onset of OCD.

Keyword

COMT; Polymorphism; Early-onset; Late-onset; OCD

MeSH Terms

Alleles
Catechol O-Methyltransferase*
DNA
Gene Frequency
Genotype
Humans
Korea*
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder*
Catechol O-Methyltransferase
DNA