[Association between polymorphisms of Val66Met in the BDNF gene and the response to escitalopram and nortriptyline treatment in the light of the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of depression].

AIM: Results from pharmacogenetic studies show importance of the relationship between response to treatment with antidepressants and polymorphisms within the genes involved in the neurotransmission and signal transduction. Changes in BDNF levels were reported in response to antidepressant treatment. The aim of study was to investigate a possible association of Val66Met polymorphism in the BDNF gene with response to antidepressants in patients with depression.

METHOD: In the study, 90 patients (21 male and 69 females) were included, in the age range 19-68 years and suffering from a depressive disorder of at least moderate severity and meeting the research criteria of ICD-10 and DSM-IV for major depression. All patients were given the written consent for the study. The project was accepted by the local ethics committee. Patients were randomized into two groups: one was treated with the serotonergic drug - escitalopram (n=51) with therapeutic doses between 10-20 mg/day. The second group was treated with the noradrenergic drug--nortriptyline (n=39) with a dose range of 75-150 mg/day. The DNA was extracted from blood cells by the salting out method. The genotype for polymorphism of the Val66Met BDNF gene was established by the PCR-RFLP method in the Laboratory of Psychiatric Genetics of the Psychiatric Clinic. Statistical analysis was performed with the Statistica version 7.1 Results. We have not found any association between the Val66Met polymorphism of the BDNF gene with treatment response neither to escitalopram (p = 0.751 for genotypes, p = 0.798 for alleles) nor for nortryptyline (p = 0.607 for genotypes, p = 0.607 for alleles)

CONCLUSIONS: The polymorphism of the BDNF gene is not likely to be associated with treatment response to escitalopram and nortriptyline in our group of patients with depression.