The frequency of SLCO1B1*5 polymorphism genotypes among Russian and Sakha (Yakutia) patients with hypercholesterolemia

INTRODUCTION Statins are the most commonly prescribed medicines for treatment of hypercholesterolemia. At the same time, up to 25% of patients cannot tolerate or have to discontinue the statin therapy due to statin-induced myopathy. In a majority of cases, statin-induced myopathy is attributed to SLCO1B1 gene polymorphism. The strongest association between statin-induced myopathy and SLCO1B1 gene polymorphism was described for simvastatin. Our research was focused on the frequency of SLCO1B1*5 genetic variant in the Russian population and in the native population of Sakha (Yakutia). MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 1,071 hyperlipidemic Russian and 76 hyperlipidemic Sakha (Yakutian) patients were included in the study. Genotypes of SLCO1B1*5 (c.521T>C, rs4149056) were determined with polymerase chain reaction amplification. The results of our study were compared with data about hyperlipidemic patients in available publications. RESULTS In the Russian population 665 (62%) patients had TT genotype of SLCO1B1*5, 346 (32%) patients had TC genotype, and in 60 patients (6%) CC variant was found (Hardy-Weinberg's chi-square test was 3.1 P=0.21). In comparison with Brazil, France, the People's Republic of China, Japan, and the native population of Sakha (Yakutia), C-allele, which causes an increased risk of statin-induced myopathy, was found significantly more often in the Russian population. In the native population of Sakha (Yakutia) SLCO1B1 polymorphism was TT - 62 (82%), TC - 11 (14%), CC - 3 (4%) (Hardy-Weinberg's chi-square test was 5.13 P=0.077). In comparison with data from Brazil, France, the People's Republic of China, and Japan, C-allele frequency in the Sakha (Yakutian) population was not significantly different. CONCLUSION Thus, we have studied the incidence of pathologic SLCO1B1 c.521C-allele in Russian and Sakha hyperlipidemic patients. The presence of SLCO1B1 C-allele in patients with hyperlipidemia forces us to be more careful in hypolipidemic drug prescription, especially statins, according to a higher risk of statin-induced myopathy development. The fact that SLCO1B1 C-allele is rarer among Sakha patients, could be interesting from the point of studying adverse drug effects frequency and statins' effectiveness.