Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Jan 29;14(2):350.
doi: 10.3390/genes14020350.

COMT but Not 5HTTLPR Gene Is Associated with Depression in First-Episode Psychosis: The Role of Stressful Life Events

Sarah Tosato  1 , Chiara Bonetto  1 , Katia De Santi  2 , Antonio Lasalvia  1 , Massimo Gennarelli  3   4 , Doriana Cristofalo  1 , Mariaelena Bertani  2 , Mirella Ruggeri  1 , On Behalf Of The Picos-Veneto Group
Affiliations

COMT but Not 5HTTLPR Gene Is Associated with Depression in First-Episode Psychosis: The Role of Stressful Life Events

Sarah Tosato et al. Genes (Basel). .

Abstract

Serotonergic and dopaminergic systems are involved in the regulation of mood and reactivity to psychological stress. This study explores, in a sample of first episode psychosis (FEP) patients, whether more severe depressive symptoms were found in those who: (1) experienced a major stressful event in the 6 months preceding illness onset; and (2) were homozygous for the COMT Val158 allele or carrying the S allele of 5-HTTLPR. A total of 186 FEP patients recruited were assessed using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD) for depressive symptoms. Stressful life events (SLEs) were collected by the List of Events Scale. The genotypes of 5-HTTLPR, rs25531, and COMT Val158 Met were performed. It has been found that higher levels of depression is associated with the presence of SLEs (p = 0.019) and with COMT Val158 allele homozygosity (p = 0.029), but not with carrying the S allele of 5-HTTLPR. The COMT gene moderates the association between depression and SLEs as Val158 allele homozygote patients experiencing SLEs had the highest level of depressive symptoms compared to the others (p = 0.002). The present study provides initial evidence for an effect of the COMT Val158 homozygosity and severe stressful life events on the severity of depressive symptoms in first episode psychosis.

Keywords: 5-HTTLPR; COMT; depression; first-episode psychosis; stressful life events.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

    1. Conley R., Aschersvanum H., Zhu B., Faries D., Kinon B. The burden of depressive symptoms in the long-term treatment of patients with schizophrenia. Schizophr. Res. 2007;90:186–197. doi: 10.1016/j.schres.2006.09.027. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Herniman S.E., Allott K., Phillips L.J., Wood S.J., Uren J., Mallawaarachchi S.R., Cotton S.M. Depressive psychopathology in first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A systematic review, meta-analysis and meta-regression. Psychol. Med. 2019;49:2463–2474. doi: 10.1017/S0033291719002344. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Grace A.A. Dysregulation of the Dopamine System in the Pathophysiology of schizophrenia and depression. Nat. Rev. Neurosci. 2016;17:524–532. doi: 10.1038/nrn.2016.57. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hamon M., Blier P. Monoamine neurocircuitry in depression and strategies for new treatments. Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry. 2013;45:54–63. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2013.04.009. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Wendland J.R., Martin B.J., Kruse M.R., Lesch K.-P., Murphy D.L. Simultaneous genotyping of four functional loci of human SLC6A4, with a reappraisal of 5-HTTLPR and rs25531. Mol. Psychiatry. 2006;11:224–226. doi: 10.1038/sj.mp.4001789. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

Substances