Pharmacogenetics of lithium prophylaxis in mood disorders: analysis of COMT, MAO-A, and Gbeta3 variants.

We studied the possible association between the prophylactic efficacy of lithium in mood disorders and the following gene variants: catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) G158A, monoamine oxydase A (MAO-A) 30-bp repeat, G-protein beta 3-subunit (Gbeta3) C825T. A total of 201 subjects affected by bipolar (n = 160) and major depressive (n = 41) disorder were followed prospectively for an average of 59.8 months and were typed for their gene variants using PCR techniques. COMT, MAO-A, and Gbeta3 variants were not associated with lithium outcome, even when possible stratification effects such as sex, polarity, age at onset, duration of lithium treatment, and previous episodes were included in the model. The pathways influenced by those variants are not therefore involved with long-term lithium outcome in our sample. Copyright 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc.