Association of the COMT val158met variant with antidepressant treatment response in major depression

In several previous biochemical, pharmacological, and genetic studies, the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) has been suggested to be involved in the pathogenesis as well as the pharmacological treatment of affective disorders. In the present study, 256 patients with major depression (DSM-IV) of Caucasian descent were genotyped for the functional COMT val158met polymorphism and characterized for clinical response to antidepressive pharmacological treatment as measured by intra-individual changes of Hamilton Depression (HAM-D-21) scores over 6 weeks. The COMT 158val/val genotype conferred a significant risk of worse response after 4–6 weeks of antidepressant treatment in patients with major depression (week 4: p=0.003; week 5: p<0.0001; week 6: p