The genetic analysis of CYP2C9 polymorphism in a Korean population

The distribution of CYP2C9 allelic variants has been reported to be different among Asians, Caucasians and Africans. No information on the distribution of four known CYP2C9 allelic variants has been available in a Korean population, except one report for base mutation of C416T (Arg 144Cys) that has not been found in Asian (Ko et al, 1996). To assess the incidence of these allelic variants, genomic DNA was isolated from 209 healthy Korean subjects. The genotypes of CYP2C9 genes were determined by PCR methods using synthetic oligonucleotide primers. We found only two subjects who have heterozygous Ile359Leu variant of CYP2C9 among 209 Korean population. No subject was found to have homozygous Cys144Cys, Cys358Cys, and Asp417Asp or heterozygous Arg144Cys, Try358Cys and Gly417Asp CYP2C9 variants. These findings suggest that the incidence of CYP2C9 allelic variants of Korean population seems to be different with those of Caucasian and other Asian population. Further evaluations are undergoing to detect CYP2C9 allelic variants in more Korean subjects.