Association between a catechol-o-methyltransferase polymorphism and obsessive-compulsive disorder in the Afrikaner population.
BACKGROUND
It has been proposed that the catechol-o-methyl transferase gene (COMT) may play a role in the pathogenesis of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Whereas studies in a North American population showed that the low activity (L) allele of a functional polymorphism in COMT was associated with OCD in male patients, this result was not supported by studies in a Japanese population. The present association study assessed the risk for OCD conferred by this COMT polymorphism in a geographically different patient group, namely, the relatively genetically homogeneous Afrikaner population of South Africa.


METHODS
Fifty-four unrelated OCD patients and fifty-four sex-matched controls were recruited from the same Afrikaner community. Patients and controls were phenotyped (DSM-IV) and genotyped for a NlaIII polymorphism with H (high activity) or L (low activity) alleles in the COMT gene.


RESULTS
The H/L genotype was significantly more common than expected in the OCD patient group (P = 0.0017).


CONCLUSIONS
Replication studies with related individuals may be useful in discovering factors underpinning the H/L genotype abundance in the Afrikaner population.


CONCLUSIONS
These results emphasise the need for further studies in genetically homogeneous populations to help define the complex etiology of this disease.
Niehaus
D J
DJ
Department of Psychiatry, University of Stellenbosch, Tygerberg, South Africa.
Kinnear
C J
CJ
Corfield
V A
VA
du Toit
P L
PL
van Kradenburg
J
J
Moolman-Smook
J C
JC
Weyers
J B
JB
Potgieter
A
A
Seedat
S
S
Emsley
R A
RA
Knowles
J A
JA
Brink
P A
PA
Stein
D J
DJ
D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D005828:Genetics, Population; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D013019:South Africa
D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase