Determination of Genetic Factors Associated with Response to Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment (OMT) in Individuals with Chronic Lower Back Pain (CLBP).

OMT is a treatment for patients with CLBP. It is underutilized partially because there is still skepticism regarding efficacy and no clear mechanism of action has been defined. Data previously collected from a CLBP clinical study was used to investigate genotypic and/or phenotypic characteristics associated with OMT pain reduction. Polymorphisms in IL-8 (rs2227543), GCH1 (rs998259), and LARGE (rs240070) were associated with treatment response defined as at least 30% pain reduction (α≤0.05). An intergenic interaction was observed in GCH1 (rs998259/rs3783641). A multivariate model which included the GCH1 polymorphisms was able to account for ~76% of variability in response to OMT. This study successfully demonstrated an association between genetics and response to OMT.