Pharmaco- and therapygenetic aspects in the treatment of anxiety disorders beyond the serotonergic system: a brief review.

ABSTRACT

Anxiety disorders (ADs) are among the most frequent psychiatric disorders. In addition, key features of ADs include that they are among the earliest mental disorders to manifest and that their first specific treatment frequently occurs several years after the onset of symptoms. Although the heritability of anxiety disorders is well known, the genetic determination of response to different modalities (psycho- or pharmacotherapy) used in treatment of patients with ADs is lesser investigated. Several studies focused on the role of serotonergic genes in the etiopathology and pharmacotherapy of anxiety disorders, however, less attention was paid to variants of other genes. In this review we focus on the cytochrome P 450, BDNF, COMT, MAOA, EAA-3 transporter, dopamine transporter and dopamine receptor gene polymorphisms and their effects with respect to the pharmacogenetics of anxiety disorders. We discuss the current knowledge on pharmacogenetic/therapygenetic aspects of anxiety disorders beyond the serotonergic system.