Monoamine oxidase A variant influences antidepressant treatment response in female patients with Major Depression

The monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) has been suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis as well as the pharmacological treatment of Major Depression. In the present study, 340 patients with a Major Depressive Episode (f=194, m=146; DSM-IV) of Caucasian descent were genotyped for the functional MAO-A VNTR. The clinical response to antidepressive pharmacological treatment was assessed by weekly intra-individual changes of HAM-D-21 scores over six weeks. The longer MAO-A alleles (3a, 4, 5) conferred a significant risk of slower and less efficient overall response over the course of 6 weeks of antidepressant treatment in patients with Major Depression, with the effect being restricted to female patients (p=0.028; corrected for multiple testing). The present results suggest that high-activity MAO-A genotypes possibly by consecutively decreased serotonin and/or norepinephrine availability negatively influence antidepressant treatment response during the first six weeks of pharmacological treatment in female patients with Major Depression.Katharina Domschke, Christa Hohoff, Lena S. Mortensen, Tilmann Roehrs, Jürgen Deckert, Volker Arolt, Bernhard T. Baun