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Published on: March 28, 2017
Combined CYP2C9, VKORC1 and CYP4F2 frequencies among racial and ethnic groups
Stuart A Scott1, Rame Khasawneh, Inga Peter
1Department of Genetics & Genomic Sciences, Box 1498, Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University, Fifth Avenue at 100th Street, New York, NY 10029, USA.
Insights
Genetic variants in CYP2C9, VKORC1, and CYP4F2 influence warfarin dosing. African Americans have lower frequencies of the CYP4F2*3 variant, impacting genotype-guided dosing algorithms for this population.
Area of Science:
- Pharmacogenomics
- Genetic Epidemiology
Background:
- Warfarin dosing is complex and influenced by genetic factors.
- CYP4F2*3 (p.V433M) is linked to higher warfarin dose needs.
- Systematic assessment of CYP2C9, VKORC1, and CYP4F2 variant frequencies across diverse populations is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the individual and combined frequencies of key CYP2C9, VKORC1, and CYP4F2 variants.
- To compare variant frequencies across major racial/ethnic groups, including African Americans, Asians, Caucasians, Hispanics, and Ashkenazi Jews.
Main Methods:
- Genotyping of healthy blood donors from five distinct racial/ethnic groups.
- Analysis included CYP2C9 (*2, *3, *4, *5, *6, *8, *11, *13), VKORC1 (g.-1639G>A), and CYP4F2 (*3 [p.V433M], rs2189784) variants.
Main Results:
- Variant CYP2C9 allele frequencies varied significantly across groups (0.078-0.212).
- CYP4F2*3 was prevalent in Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic, and AJ individuals (0.233-0.342) but less frequent in African Americans (0.117).
- 87-95% of non-African American groups carried at least one variant allele (CYP2C9, VKORC1, or CYP4F2*3), compared to 53% of African Americans.
Conclusions:
- African Americans are less likely to be homozygous for CYP4F2*3, potentially benefiting less from algorithms incorporating this variant.
- Disparities in allele frequencies partly explain the reduced efficacy of genotype-guided warfarin dosing in African Americans.
- Unidentified genetic or non-genetic factors may influence warfarin dosage in African Americans.
Aims:
CYP4F2*3 (p.V433M) has been associated with higher warfarin dose requirements; however, its frequency, like other CYP2C9 and VKORC1 variants, has not been systematically assessed in major racial/ethnic populations. Thus, we determined the individual and combined frequencies of important CYP2C9, VKORC1 and CYP4F2 variants in several racial/ethnic groups.
Materials & Methods:
Healthy African-American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic and Ashkenazi Jewish (AJ) blood donors were genotyped for CYP2C9 (*2, *3, *4, *5, *6, *8, *11 and *13), VKORC1 (g.-1639G>A) and CYP4F2 (*3 [p.V433M] and rs2189784).
Results:
The combined frequencies of variant CYP2C9 alleles were 0.133, 0.078, 0.212, 0.178 and 0.212 among African-American, Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic and AJ individuals, respectively. CYP4F2*3 frequencies were prevalent (0.233-0.342) among Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic and AJ individuals, while significantly less frequent among African-Americans (0.117; p < 0.0001). In addition, CYP4F2*3 was in linkage disequilibrium with rs2189784, an allele recently associated with time-to-therapeutic international normalized ratio, among all studied populations. Importantly, 87-95% of Asian, Caucasian, Hispanic and AJ individuals had a variant CYP2C9, VKORC1 and/or CYP4F2*3 allele, compared with only 53% of African-Americans (p < 0.0001).
Conclusions:
Compared with other racial/ethnic populations studied, only approximately one in 80 African-Americans were CYP4F2*3 homozygous, indicating that this population would benefit less from dosing algorithms that include this variant. In addition, the unique allele frequency profiles identified among the different populations partly explain why genotype-guided warfarin dosing algorithms perform less well for African-Americans and suggest that other unidentified genetic and/or nongenetic factors that influence warfarin dosage may exist in this population.
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