Cargando…

The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression

BACKGROUND: The COMT gene is located on chromosome 22q11, a region strongly implicated in the aetiology of several psychiatric disorders, in particular schizophrenia. Previous research has suggested that activity and expression of COMT is altered in schizophrenia, and is mediated by one or more poly...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Dempster, Emma L, Mill, Jonathan, Craig, Ian W, Collier, David A
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2006
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1456954/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16483362
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2350-7-10
_version_ 1782127409137451008
author Dempster, Emma L
Mill, Jonathan
Craig, Ian W
Collier, David A
author_facet Dempster, Emma L
Mill, Jonathan
Craig, Ian W
Collier, David A
author_sort Dempster, Emma L
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The COMT gene is located on chromosome 22q11, a region strongly implicated in the aetiology of several psychiatric disorders, in particular schizophrenia. Previous research has suggested that activity and expression of COMT is altered in schizophrenia, and is mediated by one or more polymorphisms within the gene, including the functional Val(158)Met polymorphism. METHOD: In this study we examined the expression levels of COMT mRNA using quantitative RT-PCR in 60 post mortem cerebellum samples derived from individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and no history of psychopathology. Furthermore, we have examined the methylation status of two CpG sites in the promoter region of the gene. RESULTS: We found no evidence of altered COMT expression or methylation in any of the psychiatric diagnoses examined. We did, however, find evidence to suggest that genotype is related to COMT gene expression, replicating the findings of two previous studies. Specifically, val(158)met (rs165688; Val allele) rs737865 (G allele) and rs165599 (G allele) all showed reduced expression (P < 0.05). Finally, we observe a strong sexual dimorphism in COMT expression, with females exhibiting significantly greater levels of COMT mRNA. CONCLUSION: The expression of COMT does not appear to be altered in the cerebellum of individuals suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression, but does appear to be influenced by single nucleotide polymorphisms within the gene.
format Text
id pubmed-1456954
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2006
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-14569542006-05-04 The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression Dempster, Emma L Mill, Jonathan Craig, Ian W Collier, David A BMC Med Genet Research Article BACKGROUND: The COMT gene is located on chromosome 22q11, a region strongly implicated in the aetiology of several psychiatric disorders, in particular schizophrenia. Previous research has suggested that activity and expression of COMT is altered in schizophrenia, and is mediated by one or more polymorphisms within the gene, including the functional Val(158)Met polymorphism. METHOD: In this study we examined the expression levels of COMT mRNA using quantitative RT-PCR in 60 post mortem cerebellum samples derived from individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, and no history of psychopathology. Furthermore, we have examined the methylation status of two CpG sites in the promoter region of the gene. RESULTS: We found no evidence of altered COMT expression or methylation in any of the psychiatric diagnoses examined. We did, however, find evidence to suggest that genotype is related to COMT gene expression, replicating the findings of two previous studies. Specifically, val(158)met (rs165688; Val allele) rs737865 (G allele) and rs165599 (G allele) all showed reduced expression (P < 0.05). Finally, we observe a strong sexual dimorphism in COMT expression, with females exhibiting significantly greater levels of COMT mRNA. CONCLUSION: The expression of COMT does not appear to be altered in the cerebellum of individuals suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or depression, but does appear to be influenced by single nucleotide polymorphisms within the gene. BioMed Central 2006-02-16 /pmc/articles/PMC1456954/ /pubmed/16483362 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2350-7-10 Text en Copyright © 2006 Dempster et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Dempster, Emma L
Mill, Jonathan
Craig, Ian W
Collier, David A
The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression
title The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression
title_full The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression
title_fullStr The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression
title_full_unstemmed The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression
title_short The quantification of COMT mRNA in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression
title_sort quantification of comt mrna in post mortem cerebellum tissue: diagnosis, genotype, methylation and expression
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1456954/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16483362
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2350-7-10
work_keys_str_mv AT dempsteremmal thequantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression
AT milljonathan thequantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression
AT craigianw thequantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression
AT collierdavida thequantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression
AT dempsteremmal quantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression
AT milljonathan quantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression
AT craigianw quantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression
AT collierdavida quantificationofcomtmrnainpostmortemcerebellumtissuediagnosisgenotypemethylationandexpression