The Impact of COMT and Childhood Maltreatment on Suicidal Behaviour in Affective Disorders

Sci Rep. 2018 Jan 12;8(1):692. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-19040-z.

Abstract

The inconsistent findings on the association between COMT (catecholamine-O-methyl-transferase) and suicidal behaviour gave reason to choose a clear phenotype description of suicidal behaviour and take childhood maltreatment as environmental factor into account. The aim of this candidate-gene-association study was to eliminate heterogeneity within the sample by only recruiting affective disorder patients and find associations between COMT polymorphisms and defined suicidal phenotypes. In a sample of 258 affective disorder patients a detailed clinical assessment (e.g. CTQ, SCAN, HAMD, SBQ-R, VI-SURIAS, LPC) was performed. DNA of peripheral blood samples was genotyped using TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assays. We observed that the haplotype GAT of rs737865, rs6269, rs4633 is significantly associated with suicide attempt (p = 0.003 [pcorr = 0.021]), and that there is a tendency towards self-harming behaviour (p = 0.02 [pcorr = 0.08]) and also NSSI (p = 0.03 [pcorr = 0.08]), though the p values did not resist multiple testing correction. The same effect we observed with the 4-marker slide window haplotype, GATA of rs737865, rs6269, rs4633, rs4680 (p = 0.009 [pcorr = 0.045]). The findings support an association between the COMT gene and suicidal behaviour phenotypes with and without childhood maltreatment as environmental factor.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Catechol O-Methyltransferase / genetics*
  • Genotype
  • Haplotypes
  • Humans
  • Logistic Models
  • Middle Aged
  • Mood Disorders / genetics
  • Mood Disorders / pathology*
  • Mood Disorders / therapy
  • Phenotype
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
  • Risk Assessment
  • Suicide, Attempted*
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • COMT protein, human
  • Catechol O-Methyltransferase