Do YOU have the angry gene? Scientists discover why some women are more prone to PMT

A gene which could explains why some women suffer a severe form of premenstrual syndrome may have been uncovered by scientists.
Around 85 per cent of women experience PMS in the days leading up to their period, causing mood swings, fatigue, acne and muscular and joint pain.
But, for up to five per cent of them, these symptoms can be far more severe due to a condition called premenstrual dysphoric disorder.
Now, scientists believe they may have discovered the molecular mechanisms that underlie a woman's susceptibility to PMDD.

Study author Professor David Goldman, also from the National Institutes of Health in the US, said: "This is a big moment for women's health, because it establishes that women with PMDD have an intrinsic difference in their molecular apparatus for response to sex hormones - not just emotional behaviours they should be able to voluntarily control."
A team from the NIH had already found that women who regularly experience mood disorder symptoms before their periods were more sensitive to normal changes in sex hormones, even though their levels were normal.
They found turning off the sex hormones oestrogen and progesterone eliminated PMDD symptoms while adding back the hormones triggered the symptoms once again.
The team, who published their results in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, then sought to see if these results could be reflected in genes in the women's white blood cells. An analysis revealed stark differences between women with PMDD and those without.
The greatest differences were shown in the ESC/E(Z) (Extra Sex Combs/Enhancer of Zeste) gene complex.
This regulates mechanisms that govern the transcription of genes into proteins in response to the environment.
More than half of C/E(Z) genes were over-expressed in PMDD patients' cells, compared to cells from controls. However, protein expression of four key genes was decreased in cells from women with PMDD.
And progesterone boosted expression of several of these genes in controls, while oestrogen decreased expression in cell lines derived from PMDD patients.
This suggested dysregulated cellular response to the hormones in PMDD.
Study author Professor Peter Schmidt, from NIH, said: 'We found dysregulated expression in a suspect gene complex which adds to evidence that PMDD is a disorder of cellular response to oestrogen and progesterone.
'For the first time, we now have cellular evidence of abnormal signalling in cells derived from women with PMDD, and a plausible biological cause for their abnormal behavioural sensitivity to oestrogen and progesterone.
'Learning more about the role of this gene complex holds hope for improved treatment of such prevalent reproductive endocrine-related mood disorders.'
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