# fibro gene isolated?



## trbell (Nov 1, 2000)

Significance of catechol-O-methyltransferase gene polymorphism infibromyalgia syndrome.Rheumatol Int 2003 May;23(3):104-107Gursoy S, Erdal E, Herken H, Madenci E, Alasehirli B, Erdal N.Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Gaziantep UniversityMedical Hospital, 2700 Kolejtepe Gaziantep, Turkey,mailto:savasgursoy###operamail.comPMID: 12739038Fibromyalgia syndrome (FS) is associated with a neuroendocrinal disordercharacterized by abnormal function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal(HPA) axis, including hyperactive adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)release and adrenal hyporesponsiveness. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT)enzyme inactivates catecholamines and catecholamine-containing drugs.Polymorphism in the gene encodes for the COMT enzyme.For this study, the significance of COMT polymorphism was assessed in FS.There were three polymorphisms of the COMT gene: LL, LH, and HH. Theanalysis of COMT polymorphism was performed using polymerase chain reaction(PCR). Sixty-one patients with FS and 61 healthy volunteers were includedin the study.Although no significant difference was found between LL and LH separately,the LL and LH genotypes together were more highly represented in patientsthan controls ( P=0.024). In addition, HH genotypes in patients weresignificantly lower than in the control groups ( P=0.04). There was nosignificant difference between COMT polymorphism and psychiatric status ofthe patients as assessed by several psychiatric tests ( P>0.05).In conclusion, COMT polymorphism is of potential pharmacological importanceregarding individual differences in the metabolism of catechol drugs andmay also be involved in the pathogenesis and treatment of FS throughadrenergic mechanisms as well as genetic predisposition to FS.tom


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## K9Mom (Sep 20, 1999)

If this is so then I don't understand why they don't do ACTH tests on Fibro patients. I'm not up-to-date on Fibro news, but last I knew the gold standard for testing for Fibro was the trigger points test.


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## moldie (Sep 25, 1999)

This is very interesting tom. Thank you for posting it. M.


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