Discovery of Novel Functional Variants and Extensive Evaluation of CYP2D6 Genetic Polymorphisms in Koreans

Our objectives were to identify CYP2D6 genetic polymorphisms in a Korean population, to compare the allele frequencies with those of other ethnic groups, and to evaluate variant-induced functional variations in dextromethorphan (DM) metabolism in vitro and in vivo. Thirty-eight single nucleotide polymorphisms of CYP2D6 were identified by direct DNA sequencing in 51 Koreans. An extended set of 707 subjects were screened for the identified variants. A group of 202 healthy subjects was subjected to phenotypic analysis on DM metabolism. CYP2D6*10 was found to be the most frequent allele (45.6%), followed by CYP2D6*1 (32.3%), *2(9.9%), *5(5.6%), *41(2.2%), *49(1.4%), and some other rare alleles (<1%). The newly identified E418K and S183Stop were assigned as CYP2D6*52 and CYP2D6*60, respectively, by the Human P450 (CYP) Allele Nomenclature Committee. Individuals having the CYP2D6*10/*49 genotype (n = 5) exhibited a significant decrease in CYP2D6 metabolic activity compared with those with the CYP2D6*1/*1 genotype (n = 31) (P < 0.019). Variations in CYP2D6 protein levels in liver tissues (n = 49) were observed with CYP2D6 genotypes, and correlation between the CYP2D6 protein content and the activity was significant (r(2) = 0.7). Given the importance of CYP2D6 in drug metabolism, subjects with the CYP2D6*10/*49 genotype may benefit from genotype analysis to achieve optimal drug therapy.