Polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene ( COMT) affect the risk for chronic post-mastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS).
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 101
ISBN-13: 9780494210963
Description: Catechol-O-methyltransferase is an enzyme catabolizing neurotransmitters in pain pathways. Studies associating variations in its gene (COMT ) in several chronic pain syndromes resulted in conflicting reports, prompting the present study that evaluated whether chronic pain in 315 Jewish women with breast cancer >1yr following mastectomy and axillary lymph nodes dissection, can be explained by genoptypes at 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) typed in their DNA. We found significant associations between chronic pain prevalence and genotypes of SNPs rs6269, rs4818 and rs4680, with odds ratio (OR)=2.7-3.4, p=0.025-0.0029, respectively. Two haploblocks were identified, in one of these the ATCA and GCGG haplotypes were seen in 92.7% of women. ATCA_ATCA Carriers had 67.7% less chronic pain compared to ATCA_GCGG carriers (OR=0.3; p=0.009). Since some of these results were still significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons using the False Discovery Rate, we suggest that risk for chronic pain postmastectomy is associated with certain COMT polymorphisms.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, page: 1441.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

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