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Pharmacogenetic investigation of response to duloxetine treatment in generalized anxiety disorder

Abstract

We examined genetic associations with duloxetine response in generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). Three pooled studies in patients with GAD receiving duloxetine 60–120 mg per day (N=164) or placebo (N=95) were used. Associations between 825 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 61 candidate genes with change in Hamilton Anxiety Scale scores were examined with set-based testing (adjusted for the number of SNPs within each gene); sets with two-sided adjusted P0.05 were examined using repeated measure analysis. Follow-up analysis explored associations of these SNPs with change in Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression-Anxiety Subscale in a 6-week study in duloxetine-treated patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) (N=241). Variants in corticotropin-releasing hormone receptor 1 (CRHR1), dopamine receptor D3 (DRD3), nuclear receptor subfamily group C, member 1 (NR3C1) and phosphodiesterase 1A (PDE1A) were associated with duloxetine response in GAD. Only rs4792888 in CRHR1 showed modest evidence of association with duloxetine response in MDD (P=0.029 in GAD, P=0.054 in MDD). In conclusion, CRHR1 variation merits investigation in pathophysiology of anxiety and its treatment response.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Alexandra Heinloth, Ms Laura Tyler and Ms Barbara McLean for writing and editorial assistance. The parent studies were registered at: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/home: NCT00122850, NCT00122863, NCT00122837, and NCT00191061. This work was supported by Eli Lilly and Company and/or any of its subsidiaries.

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Correspondence to J P Houston.

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Competing interests

Dr Fijal is a full-time employee of Eli Lilly and Company and Dr Houston is a full-time employee of Lilly USA, LLC. Both are minor stockholders of Eli Lilly and Company. Dr Perlis has received honoraria or consulting fees from Eli Lilly and Company, AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Proteus, and is a stockholder in Concordant Rater Systems, LLC. Ms Dharia is a full-time employee of PharmaNet/i3, a division of inVentiv.

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Supplementary Information accompanies the paper on the The Pharmacogenomics Journal website

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Perlis, R., Fijal, B., Dharia, S. et al. Pharmacogenetic investigation of response to duloxetine treatment in generalized anxiety disorder. Pharmacogenomics J 13, 280–285 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/tpj.2011.62

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