%0 Journal Article
%T Modification of COMT-dependent pain sensitivity by psychological stress and sex
%J Pain
%D 2015
%A Meloto, Carolina B.
%A Bortsov, Andrey V.
%A Bair, Eric
%A Helgeson, Erika
%A Ostrom, Cara
%A Smith, Shad
%A Dubner, Ronald
%A Slade, Gary D.
%A Fillingim, Roger B.
%A Greenspan, Joel D.
%A Ohrbach, Richard
%A Maixner, William
%A McLean, Samuel
%A Diatchenko, Luda
%V 157
%N 4
%P 858-867
%X Catecholamine-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a polymorphic gene whose variants impact enzymatic activity and affect pain sensitivity via adrenergic pathways. Although COMT represents one of the most studied genes in human pain genetics, findings regarding its association with pain phenotypes are not always replicated. Here, we investigated if interactions among functional COMT haplotypes, stress, and sex can modify the effect of COMT genetic variants on pain sensitivity. We tested these interactions in a cross-sectional study including two cohorts, one of 2,972 subjects tested for thermal pain sensitivity (OPPERA) and one of 948 subjects with clinical acute pain after motor vehicle collision (post-MVC). In both cohorts, the COMT high pain sensitivity (HPS) haplotype showed robust interaction with stress and number of copies of the HPS haplotype was positively associated with pain sensitivity in non-stressed individuals, but not in stressed individuals. In the post-MVC cohort, there was additional modification by sex: the HPS-stress interaction was apparent in males, but not in females. In summary, our findings indicate that stress and sex should be evaluated in association studies aiming to investigate the effect of COMT genetic variants on pain sensitivity.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>
%G en
%I Lippincott, Williams and Wilkins
%@ 0304-3959
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000449