title: Physical and verbal aggressive behavior and COMT genotype: Sensitivity to the environment.
abstract: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) genotype has been implicated as a vulnerability factor for several psychiatric diseases as well as aggressive behavior, either directly, or in interaction with an adverse environment. The present study aimed at investigating the susceptibility properties of COMT genotype to adverse and favorable environment in relation to physical and verbal aggressive behavior. The COMT Val158Met polymorphism was genotyped in a Swedish population-based cohort including 1,783 individuals, ages 20-24 years (47% males). A significant three-way interaction was found, after correction for multiple testing, between COMT genotype, exposure to violence, and parent-child relationship in association with physical but not verbal aggressive behavior. Homozygous for the Val allele reported lower levels of physical aggressive behavior when they were exposed to violence and at the same time experienced a positive parent-child relationship compared to Met carriers. Thus, susceptibility properties of COMT genotype were observed in relation to physical aggressive behavior supporting the hypothesis that COMT genotypes are modifying the sensitivity to environment that confers either risk or protection for aggressive behavior. As these are novel findings, they warrant further investigation and replication in independent samples. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.|Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tuvblad
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Jurgita
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Narusyte
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Uppsala University, BMC, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Comasco
authors.affiliation: School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Andershed
authors.affiliation: School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anna-Karin
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Andershed
authors.affiliation: School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.|Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Curium-Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Olivier F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Colins
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
authors.forename: Kostas A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Fanti
authors.affiliation: Center for Clinical Research, Uppsala University, County Hospital, Västerås, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kent W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Nilsson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology; D000483:Alleles; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D005838:Genotype; D006720:Homozygote; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010287:Parent-Child Relations; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics; D012307:Risk Factors; D014633:Valine / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: C588010:COMT protein, human; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase; D014633:Valine
keywords: COMT; aggression; environmental exposure; physical; verbal