A pilot study to examine the association between COX-2 rs5275 polymorphism and the response to repetitive transcranial stimulation in schizophrenia

• Published in: NPJ schizophrenia 2023-09, Vol.9 (1), p.56-56, Article 56
• Main Authors: Wang, Pingping, Guan, Xiaoni, Su, Xiuru, Wu, Fengchun, Xiu, Meihong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 692/53; 692/699/476/1799; Cognitive Psychology; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Memory; Neurology; Neurosciences; Polymorphism; Psychiatry; Schizophrenia
• ISSN: 2754-6993; 2754-6993; 2334-265X
• DOI: 10.1038/s41537-023-00386-5

High frequency (HF)-rTMS has been shown to improve cognitive functions in patients with schizophrenia (SCZ). This study aimed to investigate whether COX-2 rs5275 variants were associated with cognitive improvements following rTMS treatment in patients with SCZ. Forty-eight hospitalized patients with SCZ were assigned to the neuronavigation HF-rTMS group and 28 patients to the sham group over left DLPFC for 1 month. Cognitive function was evaluated using the repeatable battery for the assessment of neuropsychological status (RBANS) at weeks 0 and 4. COX-2 rs5275 polymorphism was genotyped by a technician. At baseline, C allele carriers showed better cognitive performance relative to patients with TT homozygote. Additionally, C allele carriers had greater improvement in memory from the follow-up to baseline following rTMS stimulation, while patients with the TT genotype showed no significant improvement in memory index. More importantly, we found that COX-2 rs5275 was correlated with the response to rTMS after controlling for the covariates. This study data indicate that COX-2 rs5275 was associated with improvements in immediate memory after HF-rTMS treatment in patients with SCZ. rTMS shows an effect on memory only in C allele carriers, but not in those with the TT genotype.