AUTHOR=Hoenemeyer Teri W. , Baidwan Navneet Kaur , Hall Kathryn , Kaptchuk Ted J. , Fontaine Kevin R. , Mehta Tapan S. 

TITLE=An Exploratory Analysis of the Association Between Catechol-O-Methyltransferase and Response to a Randomized Open-Label Placebo Treatment for Cancer-Related Fatigue

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.684556

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.684556

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p>Previous studies have identified catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), as a key enzyme influencing sympathetic function. Although the <italic>COMT</italic> SNP rs4680 and rs4818, are well-studied, little is known about their influence on cancer-related fatigue (CrF) and placebo response. In this study, we examined whether genetic variation in <italic>COMT</italic>, at the functional SNP rs4680 and linked rs4818, influenced open-label placebo (OLP) responses found in cancer survivors reporting moderate to severe CrF. We randomized cancer survivors (<italic>N</italic> = 74) reporting moderate-to-severe CrF to receive OLP or to treatment-as-usual (TAU) and assessed if rs4680 and rs4818 were associated with changes in fatigue severity and fatigue-distressed quality of life. At the end of the initial 21 days, the treatments were crossed over and both groups were re-assessed. Participants with the rs4680 high-activity G-allele (G/G or G/A) or rs4818 C/G genotypes reported significant decreases in fatigue severity and improvements in fatigue-distressed quality of life. The <italic>COMT</italic> rs4818 findings replicated findings in a similar study of OLP in cancer fatigue.</p><p><bold>Clinical Trial Registration:</bold><ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://www.ClinicalTrials.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">www.ClinicalTrials.gov</ext-link>, identifier: NCT02522988.</p>