Pharmacogenomic variants affecting efficacy and toxicity of statins in a south Asian population from Sri Lanka

Aim: To describe the diversity of pharmacogenetic variants of statins among Sri Lankans. Materials & methods: Variant data of relevant genes were obtained from an anonymized database of 426 Sri Lankans. Minor allele frequencies (MAFs) were compared with published data from other populations. Results: The MAF of SLCO1B1*5 (rs4149056 [T>C]) was 18.19% (95% CI: 14.53-21.85). MAFs of CYP2C9*2 (rs1799853 [C>T]) and CYP2C9*3 (rs1057910 [A>C]) were 2.58% (95% CI: 1.08-4.08) and 10.30% (95% CI: 7.75-13.61), respectively. MAFs of rs2231142 (G>T) (ABCG2), rs7412 (C>T) (APOE) and rs20455 (A>G) (KIF6) variants were 10.68% (95% CI: 7.76-13.60), 3.52% (95% CI: 1.77-5.27) and 50.7% (95% CI: 45.96-55.45), respectively. Compared with western/other Asian populations, rs20455 (A>G), CYP2C9*3 (A>C) and SLCO1B1*5 (T>C) variants were significantly higher in Sri Lankans. Conclusion: Variants that affect efficacy of statins (KIF6 [rs20455], CYP2C9*3) and increase risk of statin-induced myotoxicity (SLCO1B1*5 and CYP2C9*3) were prevalent in higher frequencies among Sri Lankans compared with western populations.