No association between CYP3A4*22 and statin effectiveness in reducing the risk for myocardial infarction

Genetic variation has been shown to influence statin response in terms of lowering LDL cholesterol. The recently discovered CYP3A4*22 allele (defined as rs35599367) has been shown to affect statin-induced LDL cholesterol lowering. Our objective was to investigate whether this polymorphism modifies the risk reduction for myocardial infarction (MI) by statins.

We analyzed the interaction between the *22 minor allele and statin use in the independent Utrecht Cardiovascular Pharmacogenetics study and Rotterdam Study, using logistic and Cox regression models.

In total, 771 MI cases and 6131 controls were included in the analyses. There was no effect of the CYP3A4*22 allelic status in the studies separately, nor when the estimates from both studies were combined (interaction odds ratio: 1.27; 95% CI: 0.73-2.21; p = 0.40 for carriers of the minor T-allele).

We found no association of the CYP3A4*22 minor allele (rs35599367) with the effectiveness of statins in reducing MI risk.