Differential effects of the catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype on the cognitive function of schizophrenia patients and healthy Japanese individuals

The functional polymorphism Val158Met in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene has been associated with differences in prefrontal cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals. Several studies have indicated that the Met allele is associated with better performanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-11, Vol.8 (11), p.e76763-e76763
Main Authors: Tsuchimine, Shoko, Yasui-Furukori, Norio, Kaneda, Ayako, Kaneko, Sunao
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimers disease
Analysis of Variance
Attention
Catechol
Catechol O-methyltransferase
Catechol O-Methyltransferase - genetics
Cognition
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Consent
Dopamine
Dopamine - metabolism
Drugs
Enzymes
Executive Function
Female
Gender
Gene polymorphism
Genotype
Genotype & phenotype
Genotypes
Humans
Language
Male
Medicine
Memory
Mental disorders
Methyltransferase
Middle Aged
Multiple regression analysis
Neuropsychological Tests
Patients
Polymorphism
Polymorphism, Genetic
Psychiatry
Regression Analysis
Researchers
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia - genetics
Short term memory
Studies
Variance analysis
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Summary:The functional polymorphism Val158Met in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene has been associated with differences in prefrontal cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia and healthy individuals. Several studies have indicated that the Met allele is associated with better performance on measures of cognitive function. We investigated whether the COMT Val158Met genotype was associated with cognitive function in 149 healthy controls and 118 patients with schizophrenia. Cognitive function, including verbal memory, working memory, motor speed, attention, executive function and verbal fluency, was assessed by the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS-J). We employed a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a multiple regression analysis to determine the associations between the COMT Val158Met genotype and the BACS-J measurements. The one-way ANOVA revealed a significant difference in the scores on the Tower of London, a measure of executive function, between the different Val158Met genotypes in the healthy controls (p = 0.023), and a post-hoc analysis showed significant differences between the scores on the Tower of London in the val/val genotype group (18.6 ± 2.4) compared to the other two groups (17.6 ± 2.7 for val/met and 17.1 ± 3.2 for met/met; p = 0.027 and p = 0.024, respectively). Multiple regression analyses revealed that executive function was significantly correlated with the Val158Met genotype (p = 0.003). However, no evidence was found for an effect of the COMT on any cognitive domains of the BACS-J in the patients with schizophrenia. These data support the hypothesis that the COMT Val158Met genotype maintains an optimal level of dopamine activity. Further studies should be performed that include a larger sample size and include patients on and off medication, as these patients would help to confirm our findings.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0076763