• Sara Ernst, Wan Huang, Yvette Conley, Nam Vo, Michael Schneider, and Gwendolyn Sowa.
• Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
• Eur Spine J. 2024 Apr 6.

PurposeLumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) is common in our aging population resulting in pain and functional impairment. Recent advances in pain research have identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) associated with inter-individual symptom and treatment response. The goal of the current study was to investigate the association of SNPs in Neuropeptide Y (NPY) and Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) with pain, function, and treatment outcomes in Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) patients receiving non-surgical treatments.MethodsAn exploratory observational biomarker study was performed ancillary to a previously published clinical trial evaluating three different non-surgical treatments for LSS. Saliva samples were obtained for single nucleotide polymorphism genotyping and blood samples were collected for NPY protein. Data on pain and function collected as part of the clinical trial at baseline, 2 and 6 months were examined for association with known polymorphisms in NPY and COMT.ResultsSubjects with the NPY rs16147 TT genotype exhibited higher baseline symptom severity but also a higher likelihood of responding to non-surgical treatments. Subjects with the COMT rs4680 GG genotype also exhibited higher baseline symptom severity but did not demonstrate greater response to treatment.ConclusionsNPY rs16147 and COMT rs4680 are important potential biomarkers associated with pain and function. NPY genotype may be useful in predicting response to non-surgical treatments in older adults with LSS.© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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