Allele Frequency of CYP2C19 Gene Polymorphisms in a Healthy Iranian Population

Cytochrome P450 2C19 (CYP2C19) plays an important role in the metabolism and elimination of a wide range of medications. The polymorphisms of this enzyme give rise to substantial inter-individual and inter-ethnic variability in drug excretion rates and final serum concentrations. For this reason, therapeutic responses and adverse drug reactions may vary from one person to another. In this study we determined genotypes of CYP2C19 in Iranian population to compare allele frequencies with previous findings in other ethnic groups. CYP2C19 (*1/*2/*3) allelic variants were determined in 200 unrelated healthy Iranian volunteers by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) assays. Six subjects (3%) were homozygous for CYP2C19*2, while 44 individuals (22%) were heterozygous. In the remainder (75%) no CYP2C19*2 was found. In addition, no CYP2C19*3 was detected in the population studied. Based on our data, there was no difference between frequency of CYP2C19 allelic variants in our study and other evaluated Caucasians (p > 0.05).