Trial reportThe journal of pain2023
COMT Val158Met Affects the Analgesic Response to Acupuncture Among Cancer Survivors With Chronic Pain.
Trial report in The journal of pain, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- Invasive or noninvasive? A systematic review and network meta-analysis of acupuncture and acupressure to treat cancer pain.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025Pooled it
- Bibliometric and visual analysis in the field of electroacupuncture's analgesia and regulation on negative emotion from 2014 to 2024.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- GABRB3 Gene Polymorphisms Influences the Analgesic Response to Acupuncture Treatment in Patients With Chronic Knee Pain: A Randomized Controlled Neuroimaging Transcriptomics Study.FASEB journal : official publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology · 2026Trial
- Review
- Toward Precision Acupuncture for Pain: Host Genetic Variability, Omics Biomarkers, and Treatment-Response Stratification.Human mutation · 2026Review
- Temporomandibular disorders and mental health: shared etiologies and treatment approaches.The journal of headache and pain · 2025Review
- Electroacupuncture alleviates pain by activating the MD2/TLR4/NF-κB pathway in the ST36 acupoint.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- Effectiveness of Acupuncture for Neck Pain: Systematic Review and Meta‑analysis with Trial Sequential Analysis.Journal of pain research · 2025Review
- Application of Acupuncture in Diabetic Vascular Complications: Efficacy and Potential Mechanisms.Journal of diabetes research · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is the major enzyme involved in the catabolism of dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain's reward system. The common COMT polymorphism Val158Met (rs4680 G>A) modulates pain response to opioids through a reward-motivated mechanism; however, its role in nonpharmacological pain medicine has not been clinically characterized. We genotyped 325 participants from a randomized controlled trial of cancer survivors with chronic musculoskeletal pain. We found that carrying methionine at position 158 (158Met) of COMT, encoded by the A allele, significantly increased the analgesic response to electroacupuncture (74% vs 50%; odds ratio [OR]: 2.79; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.31, 6.05; P < .01), but not to auricular acupuncture (68% vs 60%; OR: 1.43; 95% CI: .65, 3.12; P = .37) or usual care (24% vs 18%; OR: 1.46; 95% CI: .38, 7.24; P = .61) compared to Val/Val. These findings raise the possibility that COMT Val158Met might be an important predictor of analgesic response to electroacupuncture, providing novel insights into precision nonpharmacologic pain management tailored to individual genetic backgrounds. PERSPECTIVE: This work suggests the modulating effects of the polymorphism in COMT Val158Met on the response to acupuncture. Further research needs to validate these findings, increase the mechanistic understanding of acupuncture, and guide further development of acupuncture as a precision pain management strategy.
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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.