HSP70 variations in the acute treatment with mood stabilizers in patients with bipolar disorder: Results of a preliminary work

A pharmacogenetic approach was used to investigate the role of heat shock protein (HSP) 70 on the effect of mood stabilizers since a line of evidence has proposed a possible involvement of its chaperone activity in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorders. Forty five patients with bipolar I disorder were treated for an average of 36.5 (±19.9) days with mood stabilizers (lithium, valproate, or carbamazepine), were evaluated with using the Clinical Global Impression (CGI) scale and the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and were genotyped for their HSP 70 variants (rs2227956 C/T, rs2075799 A/G, rs1043618 C/G, rs562047 C/G, rs539689 C/G). Results: No association was found between the investigated variations and response to mood stabilizer treatments even considering possible stratification factors. The small number of subjects is an important limitation to the present study, nonetheless HSP 70 gene variants seem not to be involved in acute antimanic effect. Adequately-powered study would properly address the potential role of HSP 70 gene variants for the effect of mood stabilizers.