A Gene–Environment Interaction for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Both the presence of a single-nucleotide polymorphism and the number of different types of traumatic events alter the risk for the disorder.

Not everyone who is exposed to a catastrophe develops post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To investigate whether a common functional polymorphism of a gene for an enzyme involved in catecholamine metabolism might influence PTSD risk, researchers correlated PTSD with genotypes of 424 unrelated refugees from the Rwanda genocide.

The researchers assessed three genotypes involving valine (Val) and its substitution with methionine (Met) at codon 158 on the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT): homozygosity for Val, which conveys the greatest enzyme activity; heterozygosity, with intermediate enzyme activity; and homozygosity for Met, with three to four times lower enzyme activity than Val homozygosity. Eighty percent of subjects met criter…

Reviewing Author

Steven Dubovsky, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportTower Foundation; Patrick Lee Foundation; Boehringer Ingelheim; Intra-Cellular Therapies; Janssen; Biogen; Allergan

Editorial BoardsMind and Brain; Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic; Current Psychiatry; Journal of Psychosomatic Research

Steven Dubovsky, MD

Disclosures

Grant/Research SupportTower Foundation; Patrick Lee Foundation; Boehringer Ingelheim; Intra-Cellular Therapies; Janssen; Biogen; Allergan

Editorial BoardsMind and Brain; Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic; Current Psychiatry; Journal of Psychosomatic Research

A Gene–Environment Interaction for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

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Reviewing Author