CYP2C9 allele variants in Chinese hypertension patients and healthy controls.

BACKGROUND

Cytochromes P450 (CYP) 2C9 are polymorphic enzymes which catalyze a wide spectrum of drugs. It is also responsible for the metabolism of arachidonic acid into EETs. EETs are known to be a vasoactive substance and play an important role in a hypertensive episode. Whether the genetic polymorphism of CYP2C9 will affect the vasoactive effect and consequently affect hypertension formation is still unknown. We investigated the association of CYP2C92, CYP2C93 and CYP2C9*6 with hypertension.

METHODS

Two hundred and thirty-nine hypertension patients and 265 healthy controls participated in our study. Polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to identify CYP2C92, CYP2C93 and CYP2C9*6.

RESULTS

CYP2C92 and CYP2C96 were not detected in our study. The allelic frequency of CYP2C93 was 0.015 in hypertension patients in our study. In healthy controls, the allelic frequency of CYP2C93 was 0.049. Significant difference existed in CYP2C93 frequency between hypertension patients and healthy controls (0.015 for hypertension patients vs. 0.049 for healthy controls; chi2 = 9.728, P < 0.005, OR = 0.277, 95% CI: 0.118-0.651). Also, gender-dependent difference was observed. In females, CYP2C93 frequency of hypertension patients was significantly lower than that of healthy controls (chi2 = 11.513, P < 0.001, OR = 0.113, 95% CI: 0.026-0.500).

CONCLUSION

To our knowledge, this is the first report on CYP2C9 frequencies in hypertension patients. Our study implied that CYP2C9*3 had a secondary protective effect in females, which may be useful for studying hypertension pathogenesis and therapeutics.