Increased prevalence of functional minor allele variants of drug metabolizing CYP2B6 and CYP2D6 genes in Roma population samples.

Background: Cytochrome P450 2B6 and 2D6 are important enzymes in human drug metabolism. These phase I enzymes are known to contribute the biotransformation of clinically important pharmaceuticals, including antidepressants, anticancer and anxiolytic drugs. The aim of this work was to determine the pharmacogenetic profile of CYP2B6 and CYP2D6 in Roma and Hungarian population samples.

Methods: A study population of 426 healthy Roma and 431 healthy Hungarian subjects were characterized for CYP2B6 c.516G>T, CYP2D6 c.100C>T and c.1846G>A polymorphisms using predesigned TaqMan Drug Metabolism Genotyping Real Time-PCR assays.

Results: We found significant differences in the presence of CYP2B6 c.516G>T (p<0.001), CYP2D6 c.100C>T (p=0.003) and c.1846G>A (p=0.022) between Hungarian and Roma population. The 516T allele frequency was 33.6% in the Roma group, 21.4% in Hungarians, whereas the minor CYP2D6 100T allele was present in 26.6% in Romas and 20.5% in Hungarians. The 1864A allele frequency was 22.5% in Roma and 18.1% in Hungarian samples. A significant increase was found in genotype frequencies for homozygous minor allele carrier Roma participants compared to Hungarians for CYP2B6 516TT and CYP2D6 100TT. The following CYP2D6 genotypes were identified in Roma samples: *1/*1 (55.4%), *1/*4 (2.1%), *1/*10 (3.1%), *4/*10 (38.7%), *10/*10 (0.7%).

Conclusion: Our results demonstrate an increased minor allele frequency for CYP2B6 and CYP2D6 polymorphisms in Roma samples that implies clinical significance in this ethnic group.