@article{3094244,
    title = "Association between COMT (Val(158)Met) functional polymorphism and early
onset in patients with major depressive disorder in a European
multicenter genetic association study",
    author = "Massat, I and Souery, D and Del-Favero, J and Nothen, M and Blackwood, D and and Muir, W and Kaneva, R and Serretti, A and Lorenzi, C and Rietschel, and M and Milanova, V and Papadimitriou, GN and Dikeos, D and Van and Broeckhoven, C and Mendlewicz, J",
    journal = "Journal of Molecular Psychiatry",
    year = "2005",
    volume = "10",
    number = "6",
    pages = "598-605",
    publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",
    issn = "2049-9256",
    doi = "10.1038/sj.mp.4001615",
    keywords = "major depressive disorder; bipolar disorder; candidate genes;
catecholamine neurotransmission; COMT gene; age at onset; association
study",
    abstract = "The available data from preclinical and pharmacological studies on the
role of the C-O-methyl transferase ( COMT) support the hypothesis that
abnormal catecholamine transmission has been implicated in the
pathogenesis of mood disorders ( MD). We examined the relationship of a
common functional polymorphism (Val108/158Met) in the COMT gene, which
accounts for four-fold variation in enzyme activity, with ‘early-onset’
( EO) forms ( less than or equal to 25 years) of MD, including patients
with major depressive disorder (EO-MDD) and bipolar patients (EO-BPD),
in a European multicenter case - control sample. Our sample includes 378
MDD ( 120 EO-MDD), 506 BPD ( 222 EO-BPD) and 628 controls. An
association was found between the high-activity COMT Val allele,
particularly the COMT Val/Val genotype and EO-MDD. These findings
suggest that the COMT Val/Val genotype may be involved in EO-MDD or may
be in linkage disequilibrium with a different causative polymorphism in
the vicinity. The COMT gene may have complex and pleiotropic effects on
susceptibility and symptomatology of neuropsychiatric disorders."
}