Search for the molecular basis of ultra-rapid CYP2C9-catalysed metabolism: relationship between SNP IVS8-109A>T and the losartan metabolism phenotype in Swedes

Pharmacogenetics of Metformin Transporters Suggests No Association with Therapeutic Inefficacy among Diabetes Type 2 Mexican Patients

Mexico has been under official epidemiological alert due to diabetes since 2016. This study presents new information on the frequency and variants of metformin transporters OCT1, OCT2, OCT3, ABCB1, and CYP2C9 variants as well. It also reports the association with HbA1c control on 103 DMT2 patients. They were genotyped through real-time PCR (TaqMan assays) and grouped according to treatment: metformin and metformin + glibenclamide. Metformin plasmatic levels were determined through mass spectrometry. The analysis of HbA1c showed statistical significance across genotypes in polymorphisms rs72552763 (p = 0.022), rs622342 (p = 0.009), rs1128503 (p = 0.021), and rs2032582 (p = 0.009) within the monotherapy group. Bivariate analysis found no association between any polymorphism and HbA1c control. Two logistic regression models accounted for two diplotypes in OCT1 and ABCB1, including statistically significant covariates. The first model yielded significance in age (p = 0.026), treatment period [p = 0.001], BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 (p = 0.043), and combined therapy (p < 0.001). There was no association with GAT/GAT of rs72552763 or A/A rs622342 in OCT1. The second model yielded significance in age (p = 0.017), treatment period (p = 0.001), BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 (p = 0.042), and combined therapy (p < 0.001), finding no association with C/C of rs1128503 or G/G of rs2032582 in ABCB1. Our multinomial logistic regression results may benefit future predictive analyses in diabetic populations.

Frequency of CYP2C9 (*2, *3 and IVS8-109A>T) allelic variants, and their clinical implications, among Mexican patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 undergoing treatment with glibenclamide and metformin

The majority of Mexican patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (DMT2) (67.9-85.0%) are prescribed sulphonylureas (SUs), which are metabolized by cytochrome P450 2C9 (abbreviated as CYP2C9). SUs are a type of oral anti-diabetic compound which inhibit ATP-sensitive potassium channels, thus inducing glucose-independent insulin release by the β-pancreatic cells. The wide variability reported in SU responses has been attributed to the polymorphisms of CYP2C9. The present study aimed to describe CYP2C9 polymorphisms (*2, *3 and IVS8-109T) within a sample of Mexican patients with DMT2, while suggesting the potential clinical implications in terms of glibenclamide response variability. From a sample of 248 patients with DMT2 who initially consented to be studied, those ultimately included in the study were treated with glibenclamide (n=11), glibenclamide combined with metformin (n=112) or metformin (n=76), and were subsequently genotyped using a reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR), end-point allelic discrimination and PCR amplifying enzymatic restriction fragment long polymorphism. Clinical data were gathered through medical record revision. The frequencies revealed were as follows: CYP2C9*1/*1, 87.5%; *1/*2, 6.5%; *1/*3, 5.2%; and CYP2C9, IVS8-109A>T, 16.1%. Glibenclamide significantly reduced the level of pre-prandial glucose (P<0.01) and the percentage of glycated hemoglobin (%HbA1c; P<0.01) for IVS8-109A>T compared with combined glibenclamide and metformin treatment. Concerning the various treatments with respect to the different genotypes, the percentages obtained were as follows: Glibenclamide A/A, HbA1c<6.5=33.3%; glibenclamide + metformin A/A, HbA1c<6.5=24.6%; glibenclamide A/T, HbA1c<6.5=33.3%; glibenclamide + metformin A/T, HbA1c<6.5=25%; glibenclamide T/T, HbA1c<6.5=100%; and glibenclamide + metformin T/T, HbA1c<6.5=12.5%. Altogether, these results revealed that, although genetically customized prescriptions remain a desirable goal to increase the chances of therapeutic success, within the studied population neither allelic variants nor dosages demonstrated a clear association with biomarker levels. A key limitation of the present study was the lack of ability to quantify either the plasma concentrations of SU or their metabolites; therefore, further, precise experimental and observational studies are required.

Precision medicine: does ethnicity information complement genotype-based prescribing decisions?

Inter-ethnic differences in drug response are all too well known. These are underpinned by a number of factors, including pharmacogenetic differences across various ethnic populations. Precision medicine relies on genotype-based prescribing decisions with the aim of maximizing efficacy and mitigating the risks. When there is no access to genotyping tests, ethnicity is frequently regarded as a proxy of the patient's probable genotype on the basis of overall population-based frequency of genetic variations in the ethnic group the patient belongs to, with some variations being ethnicity-specific. However, ever-increasing transcontinental migration of populations and the resulting admixing of populations have undermined the utility of self-identified ethnicity in predicting the genetic ancestry, and therefore the genotype, of the patient. An example of the relevance of genetic ancestry of a patient is the inadequate performance of European-derived pharmacogenetic dosing algorithms of warfarin in African Americans, Brazilians and Caribbean Hispanics. Consequently, genotyping a patient potentially requires testing for all known clinically actionable variants that the patient may harbour, and new variants that are likely to be identified using state-of the art next-generation sequencing-based methods. Furthermore, self-identified ethnicity is associated with a number of ethnicity-related attributes and non-genetic factors that potentially influence the risk of phenoconversion (genotype-phenotype discordance), which may adversely impact the success of genotype-based prescribing decisions. Therefore, while genotype-based prescribing decisions are important in implementing precision medicine, ethnicity should not be disregarded.

Pharmacogenetic approach to losartan in Marfan patients: a starting point to improve dosing regimen?

BACKGROUND

Losartan is under evaluation for managing Marfan patients with aortic root dilatation. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzymes convert losartan to E3174 active metabolite. The aim of this study is to describe the distribution of CYP2C9*2, CYP2C9*3, CYP3A4*22 and CYP3A5*3 defective alleles, according to losartan tolerance in paediatric Marfan patients.

METHODS

We genotyped 53 paediatric Marfan patients treated with losartan. The rate of aortic root dilatation was evaluated using the delta z-score variation. Differences in tolerated losartan daily doses with respect to CYP metabolic classes were assessed through the Kruskal-Wallis test.

RESULTS

The losartan daily dose spans from 0.16 to 2.50 mg/kg (median 1.10 mg/kg). As we expect from the pharmacokinetics pathway, we observe highest tolerated dose in CYP2C9 poor metabolisers (median 1.50 mg/kg, interquartile range 1.08-1.67 mg/kg); however, this difference is not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS

The optimal dose of angiotensin receptor blocker is not known, and no data are available about losartan pharmacogenetic profile in Marfan syndrome; we have proposed a strategy to tackle this issue based on evaluating the major genetic polymorphisms involved in the losartan conversion into active carboxylic acid metabolite. Further studies are needed to support the use of genetic polymorphisms as predictors of the right dose of losartan.

P450 (Cytochrome) Oxidoreductase Gene (POR) Common Variant (POR*28) Significantly Alters CYP2C9 Activity in Swedish, But Not in Korean Healthy Subjects

CYP2C9 enzyme contributes to the metabolism of several pharmaceuticals and xenobiotics and yet displays large person-to-person and interethnic variation. Understanding the mechanisms of CYP2C9 variation is thus of immense importance for personalized medicine and rational therapeutics. A genetic variant of P450 (cytochrome) oxidoreductase (POR), a CYP450 redox partner, is reported to influence CYP2C9 metabolic activity in vitro. We investigated the impact of a common variant, POR*28, on CYP2C9 metabolic activity in humans. 148 healthy Swedish and 146 healthy Korean volunteers were genotyped for known CYP2C9 defective variant alleles (CYP2C9*2, *3). The CYP2C9 phenotype was determined using a single oral dose of 50 mg losartan. Excluding oral contraceptive (OC) users and carriers of 2C9*2 and *3 alleles, 117 Korean and 65 Swedish were genotyped for POR*5, *13 and *28 using Taqman assays. The urinary losartan to its metabolite E-3174 metabolic ratio (MR) was used as an index of CYP2C9 metabolic activity. The allele frequency of the POR*28 variant allele in Swedes and Koreans was 29% and 44%, respectively. POR*5 and *13 were absent in both study populations. Considering the CYP2C9*1/*1 genotypes only, the CYP2C9 metabolic activity was 1.40-fold higher in carriers of POR*28 allele than non-carriers among Swedes (p = 0.02). By contrast, no influence of the POR*28 on CYP2C9 activity was found in Koreans (p = 0.68). The multivariate analysis showed that ethnicity, POR genotype, and smoking were strong predictors of CYP2C9 MR (p < 0.05). This is the first report to implicate the importance of POR*28 genetic variation for CYP2C9 metabolic activity in humans. These findings contribute to current efforts for global personalized medicine and using medicines by taking into account pharmacogenetic and phenotypic variations.

CYP450 genotype and pharmacogenetic association studies: a critical appraisal

Despite strong pharmacological support, association studies using genotype-predicted phenotype as a variable have yielded conflicting or inconclusive evidence to promote personalized pharmacotherapy. Unless the patient is a genotypic poor metabolizer, imputation of patient's metabolic capacity (or metabolic phenotype), a major factor in drug exposure-related clinical response, is a complex and highly challenging task because of limited number of alleles interrogated, population-specific differences in allele frequencies, allele-specific substrate-selectivity and importantly, phenoconversion mediated by co-medications and inflammatory co-morbidities that modulate the functional activity of drug metabolizing enzymes. Furthermore, metabolic phenotype and clinical outcomes are not binary functions; there is large intragenotypic and intraindividual variability. Therefore, the ability of association studies to identify relationships between genotype and clinical outcomes can be greatly enhanced by determining phenotype measures of study participants and/or by therapeutic drug monitoring to correlate drug concentrations with genotype and actual metabolic phenotype. To facilitate improved analysis and reporting of association studies, we propose acronyms with the prefixes ‘g’ (genotype-predicted phenotype) and ‘m’ (measured metabolic phenotype) to better describe this important variable of the study subjects. Inclusion of actually measured metabolic phenotype, and when appropriate therapeutic drug monitoring, promises to reveal relationships that may not be detected by using genotype alone as the variable.

Lower CYP2C9 activity in Turkish patients with Behçet's disease compared to healthy subjects: a down-regulation due to inflammation?

BACKGROUND

We previously reported on a Swedish patient with Behçet's disease (BD) who was an ultra-rapid metaboliser of drugs catalysed by CYP2C9. Was this extreme metabolism caused by the disease?

AIM

This study aims to compare the genotype/phenotype of CYP2C9 in patients with BD and healthy subjects. As the occurrence of BD is high in Turkey, all subjects were recruited from this country.

METHODS

Genotyping of CYP2C9 was performed using standard PCR-RFLP and allele-specific PCR methods. Phenotyping of CYP2C9 was performed by administration of a 50-mg single oral dose of losartan and by calculating the urinary metabolic ratio (MR) of probe drug to its metabolite E-3174. Quantitation was performed by HPLC.

RESULTS

The frequency of CYP2C9*2 and *3 was not significantly different between the Behçet's disease patients (12.5 and 8.7%) and the healthy subjects (8.9 and 8.2%). The geometric mean losartan MR was higher in the 52 patients (1.75) than in the 96 healthy subjects (1.02) (p = 0.002; t-test). Within the genotypes *1/*1, there was a significant difference of MR between patients and healthy subjects (P = 0.006). All but three of the Behçet's disease patients were treated with colchicine. In nine subsequent patients, we found no significant effect of 2 weeks of treatment with colchicine on the CYP2C9 MR.

CONCLUSION

Contrary to expectation, the CYP2C9 activity was lower in Turkish BD patients compared to healthy subjects. As this seems not to be due to colchicine treatment, our hypothesis is that inflammation related to BD might have caused the down-regulation of the CYP2C9 activity due to immune cytokine reactions. The ultra-rapid metabolism of CYP2C9 substrate drugs in the Swedish patient was not due to her BD.

Relationship between the CYP2C9 IVS8-109A>T polymorphism and high losartan hydroxylation in healthy Ecuadorian volunteers

Aim: The CYP2C9 IVS8-109T allele was recently found to be more frequent among Swedish individuals, who have the highest losartan metabolic ratio (MR; losartan:E-3174). Thus, the influence of the CYP2C9 IVS8-109A>T polymorphism on the losartan MR was evaluated among healthy Ecuadorians. In addition, the frequency of the CYP2C9 IVS8-109A>T polymorphism was determined. Results: Among CYP2C9-homozygous wild-types, those with the CYP2C9 IVS8-109T/T versus A/A genotypes had a lower MR (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the frequency of the CYP2C9 IVS8-109T variant was lower in Ecuadorians (21.4%; p < 0.001) than in populations from Sweden or Asia (ranging from 32 to 46%). Conclusion: In this Ecuadorian population, the CYP2C9 IVS8-109T allele was associated with an increased CYP2C9 hydroxylation capacity. Further investigation needs to be carried out in order to clarify the relevance of the SNP of CYP2C9 IVS8-109A>T on losartan hydroxylation across populations and its potential implications in CYP2C9 activity.

Original submitted 19 February 2014; Revision submitted 16 May 2014