Bitter Taste Receptor Gene in Patients with Taste Disorders

Objective: Examine changes in the expression of taste receptor genes in patients who had loss of taste and those who had phantogeusia. Method: The subjects of this study consisted of 51 patients with loss of bitter taste and 43 patients with phantogeusia. The control group consisted of 24 subjects. We took specimens by scraping their foliate papillae. T2R family and TAS2R family gene expression was detected using RT-PCR and electrophoresis. Results: The patients with loss of bitter taste showed a significant decrease in the frequency of expression of taste receptor genes T2R8 ( P = .002), 10 ( P = .001), 13 ( P = .003), 16 (pTAS2R40 (p48 ( P = .007) compared with the control group. The frequency of gene expression of TAS2R42 ( P = .008) and T2R3 ( P = .033) were significantly increased in patients with phantogeusia. Conclusion: Expression of some genes was decreased in patients with loss of taste, while expression of other genes was increased in patients with phantogeusia. It was suggested that conflicting changes in taste receptor gene expression were involved in the pathogenesis of the loss of taste and phantogeusia.