Objectives To compare CYP2C19 enzyme activity between Swedes and Koreans controlling for the effect of CYP2C19 genotype, sex, oral contraceptive use and smoking habit.Methods CYP2C19 activity was determined in 185 healthy Swedish and 150 Korean subjects as omeprazole/5-hydroxyomeprazole ratio (metabolic ratio; MR) using high-performance liquid chromatography. Genotyping was performed by PCR using Taqman assay.Results As expected, a higher incidence of poor metabolizers (PM) was found in Koreans (14%) compared to Swedes (3.8%) and the frequency of the CYP2C19*17 allele was very low in Koreans 0.3%. Among subjects homozygous for CYP2C19*1, Koreans displayed significantly lower CYP2C19 enzyme activity than Swedes (p<0.000001). Interestingly in Koreans a pronounced gender difference was apparent: females (n=24) had significantly lower MR than males (N=30) (p<0.0001) but such a gender difference was not seen among Swedes. Swedish OC users had a higher MR than non-users (p<0.00001), whereas OC was only used by one Korean. No effect of smoking was observed.
ConclusionsWe find specific gender dependent effects of CYP2C19 activity in Koreans but not in Swedes. Controlling for the effect of genotype and sex, Koreans display lower CYP2C19 activity than Swedes. The genetic, epigenetic or environmental basis for this difference remains to be identified.