Trial reportPloS one2011
The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158met polymorphism affects brain responses to repeated painful stimuli.
Trial report in PloS one, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 28 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
28 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Coordinate-based (ALE) meta-analysis of brain activation in patients with fibromyalgia.Human brain mapping · 2016Pooled it
- Neuroimaging of the periaqueductal gray: state of the field.NeuroImage · 2012Pooled it
- Trial
- Catechol-O-methyltransferase genotype modulates opioid release in decision circuitry.Clinical and translational science · 2013Trial
- Influence of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met Polymorphism in Conditioned Pain Modulation in Women with Migraine.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Do Diabetes and Genetic Polymorphisms in theJournal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Effects of functional polymorphisms of opioid receptor mu 1 and catechol-O-methyltransferase on the neural processing of pain.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2024Article
- Chronic pain domains and their relationship to personality, abilities, and brain networks.Pain · 2023Article
- Genetic and epigenetic regulation of Catechol-O-methyltransferase in relation to inflammation in chronic fatigue syndrome and Fibromyalgia.Journal of translational medicine · 2022Article
- No Association between Genetic Variants of theGenes · 2022Article
- The roles of borderline personality disorder symptoms and dispositional capability for suicide in suicidal ideation and suicide attempts: Examination of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism.Psychiatry research · 2021Article
- Common variants of catechol-O-methyltransferase influence patient-controlled analgesia usage and postoperative pain in patients undergoing total hysterectomy.The pharmacogenomics journal · 2016Article
- Genetic epidemiology of irritable bowel syndrome.World journal of gastroenterology · 2015Review
- Catechol-O-methyltransferase inhibition alters pain and anxiety-related volitional behaviors through activation of β-adrenergic receptors in the rat.Neuroscience · 2015Article
- Perceived Parenting Mediates Serotonin Transporter Gene (5-HTTLPR) and Neural System Function during Facial Recognition: A Pilot Study.PloS one · 2015Article
- Fibromyalgia is characterized by altered frontal and cerebellar structural covariance brain networks.NeuroImage. Clinical · 2015Article
- Altered functional magnetic resonance imaging responses to nonpainful sensory stimulation in fibromyalgia patients.Arthritis & rheumatology (Hoboken, N.J.) · 2014Article
- Dopamine D3 receptor Ser9Gly and catechol-o-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphisms and acute pain in sickle cell disease.Anesthesia and analgesia · 2014Article
- Placebo analgesia and reward processing: integrating genetics, personality, and intrinsic brain activity.Human brain mapping · 2014Article
- Exploring key topics in palliative care: pain and palliative care for older people.Clinical medicine (London, England) · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Despite the explosion of interest in the genetic underpinnings of individual differences in pain sensitivity, conflicting findings have emerged for most of the identified "pain genes". Perhaps the prime example of this inconsistency is represented by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), as its substantial association to pain sensitivity has been reported in various studies, but rejected in several others. In line with findings from behavioral studies, we hypothesized that the effect of COMT on pain processing would become apparent only when the pain system was adequately challenged (i.e., after repeated pain stimulation). In the present study, we used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to investigate the brain response to heat pain stimuli in 54 subjects genotyped for the common COMT val158met polymorphism (val/val = n 22, val/met = n 20, met/met = n 12). Met/met subjects exhibited stronger pain-related fMRI signals than val/val in several brain structures, including the periaqueductal gray matter, lingual gyrus, cerebellum, hippocampal formation and precuneus. These effects were observed only for high intensity pain stimuli after repeated administration. In spite of our relatively small sample size, our results suggest that COMT appears to affect pain processing. Our data demonstrate that the effect of COMT on pain processing can be detected in presence of 1) a sufficiently robust challenge to the pain system to detect a genotype effect, and/or 2) the recruitment of pain-dampening compensatory mechanisms by the putatively more pain sensitive met homozygotes. These findings may help explain the inconsistencies in reported findings of the impact of COMT in pain regulation.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.