Balkan Journal of Medical Genetics

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN THE CATECHOL-O-METHYLTRANSFERASE Val158Met POLYMORPHISM WITH SUSCEPTIBILITY AND SEVERITY OF CARPAL TUNNEL SYNDROME
Erkol İnal E1,*, Eroğlu P2, Görükmez O3, Özemri Sağ Ş4, Yakut T4
*Corresponding Author: Dr. Esra Erkol İnal, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon yolu, Çünür, Isparta, Turkey. Tel: +90-246-211-9280. GSM: +90-507-563-6511. Fax: +90-246-211-2830. E-mail: esraerkol@hotmail.com
page: 43

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Participants. Ninety-five patients with CTS and 95 age- and ethnicity-matched healthy controls were enrolled in this study. All the participants were women and housewives. Informed consent from the all participants were obtained before being admitted to the study. The study was approved by the local ethics committee. Patients were excluded from this study if they had any of the following: having previously undergone surgery for CTS, any sensory or motor deficit in the ulnar nerve, multiple diagnosis of the upper extremities such as lateral epicondylitis or cervical radiculopathy, history of systemic disease that causes CTS such as diabetes mellitus or hypothyroidism, concomitant systemic musculoskeletal conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia, pregnancy, previous fracture of the bones of upper extremities, trauma of the neck, shoulder or upper extremities and any other neurologic diseases. The patients had to have at least four of the following to be enrolled to undergo electroneurography (ENG): pain and paresthesia in the median nerve distribution without extra median nerve territory symptoms for at least six months; increasing symptoms at night; positive Tinel sign; positive Phalen sign and self-reported hand strength deficits. The age, gender, body mass index (BMI), symptoms duration and dominant hand of the patients were recorded. Tinel and Phalen signs were noted as positive or negative. Functional and clinical status linked to CTS was evaluated by the Turkish version of the Boston Questionnaire that consists of the symptom severity scale (SSS) and the functional status scale (FSS). The SSS and the FSS include 11 and eight questions, respectively, which are scored with one (mildest) to five (most severe) points. The overall score is the mean of 11 scores assessing pain severity, numbness and weakness at night and day and eight scores assessing the difficulty in performing common hand-related tasks. Higher scores indicate worse symptoms or dysfunction [10]. The intensity of hand or wrist pain in the last 2 weeks was rated on VAS as cm by the patients. Electroneurography (ENG) was performed with a two-channel ENG system (Micromed S.p.A., Mogliano Veneto TV, Italy) by an experienced physician when the patient was sitting with her arm semi-flexed. Electroneurography comprised motor and antidromic sensory conduction velocities of the median and ulnar nerves. Severity of the ENG was also classified according to standardized guidelines of the American Association of Electrodiagnosis, the American Academy of Neurology and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation [11]. If median nerve sensory conduction velocity is less than 40 mm/s and median nerve distal motor latency is greater than 4.20 ms, they were considered to be abnormal. Only patients with abnormal segmental comparative tests were classified to have minimal CTS, while individuals with abnormal median nerve sensory velocity conduction and normal distal motor latency were considered to have mild CTS. To have moderate CTS, ENG has to reveal both abnormal median nerve sensory velocity conduction and distal motor latency. The patients who have abnormal median nerve motor distal latency and do not have median nerve sensory response are accepted to have severe CTS. Sensory and motor nerve conduction studies of the ulnar nerve were performed in order to rule out ulnar nerve lesions. Blood samples from both patient and control groups were collected in vacutainers containing EDTA as anticoagulant. We isolated DNA according to the procedures of the DNA isolation kit used (Gentra Puregene Blood Kit; Qiagen GmbH, Hilden, Germany) and samples were stored at ‒20 °C until analyzed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The COMT gene Val158Met SNP was determined using the PCR-RFLP (restriction fragment length polymorphism) method. For the COMT gene Val158Met SNP, forward 5’-CTC ATC ACC ATC GAG ATC AA-3’ and reverse 5’-CCA GGT CTG ACA ACG GGT CA-3’ primers were used [12]. The PCR primers for Val158Met were used to generate a 109 bp PCR product containing the polymorphic sites. Polymerase chain reaction products were digested overnight with NlaIII at 37 °C and analyzed on 4.0% agarose gels. The fragments used to discriminate each genotype were as follows: valine homozygotes (86 and 23 bp), Val/Met heterozygotes (86, 68, 23 and 18 bp), and methionine homozygotes (68 and 18 bp). Statistical Analysis. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 15.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). Mean and standard deviations (mean ± SD) were used for the presentation of continuous quantitative variables. Frequencies and percentages were used for categorical data. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test was used for parametric variables, and for non parametric variables, the Kruskal-Wallis test was used for comparisons among the three groups. For evaluation of categorical variables, a χ2 test and if needed, Fisher’s exact t-test were used. Comparisons of genotype distribution and allele frequency between the groups were performed using a χ2 test. To determine whether the allele frequencies were stable within patients and controls, χ2 analysis of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the genotypes was conducted. A p value of <0.05 was accepted as significant for all statistical analyses.

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