Clopidogrel pharmacotherapy is associated with substantial interindividual variability in clinical response, which can translate into an increased risk of adverse outcomes. Clopidogrel, a recognized substrate of hepatic carboxylesterase 1 (CES1), undergoes extensive hydrolytic metabolism in the liver. Significant interindividual variability in the expression and activity of CES1 exists, which is attributed to both genetic and environmental factors. We determined whether CES1 inhibition and CES1 genetic polymorphisms would significantly influence the biotransformation of clopidogrel and alter the formation of the active metabolite. Coincubation of clopidogrel with the CES1 inhibitor bis(4-nitrophenyl) phosphate in human liver s9 fractions significantly increased the concentrations of clopidogrel, 2-oxo-clopidogrel, and clopidogrel active metabolite, while the concentrations of all formed carboxylate metabolites were significantly decreased. As anticipated, clopidogrel and 2-oxoclopidogrel were efficiently hydrolyzed by the cell s9 fractions prepared from wild-type CES1 transfected cells. The enzymatic activity of the CES1 variants G143E and D260fs were completely impaired in terms of catalyzing the hydrolysis of clopidogrel and 2-oxo-clopidogrel. However, the natural variants G18V, S82L, and A269S failed to produce any significant effect on CES1-mediated hydrolysis of clopidogrel or 2-oxo-clopidogrel. In summary, deficient CES1 catalytic activity resulting from CES1 inhibition or CES1 genetic variation may be associated with higher plasma concentrations of clopidogrel-active metabolite, and hence may enhance antiplatelet activity. Additionally, CES1 genetic variants have the potential to serve as a biomarker to predict clopidogrel response and individualize clopidogrel dosing regimens in clinical practice.

ABSTRACT:CYP2C9 is involved in metabolism of nearly 25% of clinically used drugs. Coding region polymorphisms CYP2C9*2 and *3 contribute to interperson variability in drug dosage and clinical outcomes, whereas the role of a regulatory polymorphism remains uncertain. Measuring allelic RNA expression in 87 human liver samples, combined with genotyping, sequencing, and reporter gene assays, we identified a promoter variable number tandem repeat polymorphism (pVNTR) that fully accounted for allelic CYP2C9 mRNA expression differences. Present in three different variant forms [short (pVNTR-S), medium (pVNTR-M), and long (pVNTR-L)], only the pVNTR-S allele reduced the CYP2C9 mRNA level compared with the pVNTR-M (reference) allele. pVNTR-S is in linkage disequilibrium with *3, with linkage disequilibrium r 2 of 0.53 to 0.75 in different populations. In patients who were taking a maintenance dose of warfarin, the mean warfarin dose was associated with the copies of pVNTR-S (p ‫؍‬ 0.0001). However, in multivariate regression models that included the CYP2C9*3, pVNTR-S was no longer a significant predictor of the warfarin dose (p ‫؍‬ 0.60). These results indicate that although pVNTR-S reduced CYP2C9 mRNA expression, the in vivo effects of pVNTR-S on warfarin metabolism cannot be separated from the effects of *3. Therefore, it is not necessary to consider pVNTR-S as an additional biomarker for warfarin dosing. Larger clinical studies are needed to define whether the pVNTR-S has a minimal effect in vivo, or whether the effect attributed to *3 is really a combination of effects on expression by the pVNTR-S along with effects on catalytic activity from the nonsynonymous *3 variant.

G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRKs) are important regulatory proteins for many G protein-coupled receptors, but little is known about GRK4 pharmacogenetics. We hypothesized three nonsynonymous GRK4 SNPs, R65L (rs2960306), A142V (rs1024323) and A486V (rs1801058) would be associated with blood pressure response to atenolol, but not hydrochlorothiazide, and would be associated with long term cardiovascular outcomes (all cause, death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke) in participants treated with an atenolol-based versus verapamil-SR-based antihypertensive strategy. GRK4 SNPs were genotyped in 768 hypertensive participants from the Pharmacogenomic Evaluation of Antihypertensive Responses (PEAR) trial. In Caucasians and African Americans, increasing copies of the variant 65L-142V haplotype were associated with significantly reduced atenolol-induced diastolic blood pressure lowering (−9.1 ± 6.8 vs −6.8 ± 7.1 vs −5.3 ± 6.4 mmHg in participants with 0, 1 and 2 copies of 65L-142V respectively; p=0.0088). 1460 participants with hypertension and coronary artery disease from the INternational VErapamil SR / Trandolapril STudy (INVEST) were genotyped and variant alleles of all three GRK4 SNPs were associated with increased risk for adverse cardiovascular outcomes in an additive fashion, with 486V homozygotes reaching statistical significance (Odds ratio 2.29 [1.48–3.55], p=0.0002). These effects on adverse cardiovascular outcomes were independent of antihypertensive treatment. These results suggest the presence of GRK4 variant alleles may be important determinants of blood pressure response to atenolol and risk for adverse cardiovascular events. The associations with GRK4 variant alleles were stronger in patients who were also ADRB1 389R-homozygotes, suggesting a potential interaction between these two genes.