COMT polymorphisms in impulsively violent offenders with antisocial personality disorder.
OBJECTIVE
The relationship between catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) polymorphisms and violent behaviour was tested in highly selected group of non-psychotic violent offenders.


METHODS
We conducted an association study comparing 47 male repeatedly sentenced for impulsive violent attacks diagnosed with Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) with 43 healthy male controls matched on education. Three COMT polymorphisms were analysed: COMT Val158Met and COMT Ala146Val on exon 4, and untranslated polymorphism on the 6th exon, at the regulatory region of the COMT gene with deletion-insertion character del/C.


RESULTS
Logistic regression analysis revealed that while Val158Met is not associated with violence in APD, another COMT polymorphism - COMT Ala146Val is more frequent among violent offenders with APD (p=0.017).


CONCLUSIONS
To conclude, our findings provide further support that COMT is a modifying gene that plays a role in determining interindividual variability in the proclivity for violent behaviour in subjects without major mental disorder.
Vevera
Jan
J
Department of Psychiatry, 1st Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic. janvevera@centrum.cz
Stopkova
Romana
R
Bes
Mireia
M
Albrecht
Tomas
T
Papezova
Hana
H
Zukov
Ilja
I
Raboch
Jiri
J
Stopka
Pavel
P
D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000235:genetics*; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D011329:Prisoners; D014754:Violence
D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase