The cytochrome P450 enzyme encoded by CYP2C9 is the key enzyme involved in S-warfarin metabolism [8]. Currently, more than 70 CYP2C9 alleles have been detected and their distribution varies significantly among different populations [10]. CYP2C9*2 and *3 are two common CYP2C9 allelic variants, and the frequency of these two alleles is relatively lower in Asian and African populations than in European populations [10, 28]. CYP2C9*3 is the most common variant in the Han Chinese population with an allele frequency of 4–5%, while CYP2C9*2 is extremely rare [10, 13, 17]. In recent years, the influence of other CYP2C9 alleles on stable warfarin doses has received considerable attention. CYP2C9*5, *6, *8, and *11 have been confirmed as important alleles in individuals of African descent [12, 27, 29], and carriers of these alleles have significantly reduced warfarin maintenance doses. The Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) guidelines also recommend that warfarin dosing be adjusted based on the CYP2C9 genotype of the patient [13]. In recent years, a series of studies have identified a variety of rare CYP2C9 variants in the Han Chinese population [17, 30]. However, studies on the effects of these variants on warfarin maintenance doses are limited.
The CYP2C9*13 allele was first reported in a Chinese population [14] and it occurs almost exclusively in East Asian populations [15]. In addition to CYP2C9*3, CYP2C9*13 is considered a relatively common allelic variant in East Asian populations, with an allele frequency of 0.16–0.7% [16–19]. In this study, the allele frequency of CYP2C9*13 was intermediate between CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3. Many in vivo and in vitro studies have demonstrated that CYP2C9*13 is associated with a lower drug metabolic activity than the wild type [20, 21, 31, 32]. CYP2C9*13 reduced intrinsic clearance by 92%—significantly better than the wild-type CYP2C9*1, in vitro [31]. In an in vivo pharmacokinetic study, Hu et al. found that CYP2C9*1/*13 genotype carriers had significantly lower intrinsic clearance than those with the wild-type, and an even lower clearance than those with the most common variant genotype, CYP2C9*1/*3. Studies have also shown that carrying two allelic variants, *3 and *13 (CYP2C9*3/*13), can further reduce the intrinsic clearance, which is comparable to that of CYP2C9*3/*3 [32]. Previous studies on warfarin dosing in CYP2C9*13 carriers were single-patient case reports [23, 24]. Kwon et al. reported a patient with a CYP2C9*3/*13 genotype who achieved the target INR range while taking an extremely low daily warfarin dose (0.57 mg/d) [23], which was significantly lower than the usual dose for CYP2C9*1/*3 carriers. This indicates that CYP2C9*13 may play a synergistic role with CYP2C9*3, resulting in further reduction in warfarin maintenance doses.
Our results are consistent with those of previous in vitro and in vivo studies on CYP2C9*13. Patients with the CYP2C9*13 variant required approximately 40% lower warfarin doses than predicted. This effect significantly exceeded the 19% reduction observed in CYP2C9*2 allele carriers and was slightly higher than the 33% reduction observed in CYP2C9*3 allele carriers [8]. Previous studies have confirmed that CYP2C9*2 and *3 carriers have a significantly higher risk of over-anticoagulation and bleeding during warfarin treatment [33]. Thus, CYP2C9*13 may also have a similar clinical significance, and carriers may have lower stable warfarin doses and a higher risk of bleeding.
Currently, the Gage algorithm [26] and the International Warfarin Pharmacogenetics Consortium (IWPC) algorithm are two of the most used warfarin-dosing algorithms [5]. Both have been used in several large-scale clinical trials [34–36]. Existing warfarin-dosing algorithms fail to consider the effect of the CYP2C9*13 variant [5, 11, 25, 26]. This may result in lower accuracy in predicting warfarin dose requirements for the Han Chinese population. We found that the maintenance doses were significantly reduced in carriers of the CYP2C9*13 variant. When two validated pharmacogenetic dosing algorithms were used to adjust for clinical and other genetic factors affecting warfarin dosing, we found that the actual and predicted doses in patients with CYP2C9*13 variants were remarkably different and that the algorithm significantly overestimated the warfarin dose requirement for CYP2C9*13 carriers. Therefore, these patients are at a higher risk of over-anticoagulation and bleeding events when receiving the usual warfarin doses. Lindley et al. provided a dose-adjustment method for a rare CYP2C9 allele, CYP2C9*5, using a warfarin dosing algorithm [27]. Similarly, the prediction error of CYP2C9*13 carriers was significantly reduced by adding the CYP2C9*13 adjustment coefficient to the conventional model.
In conclusion, patients carrying the CYP2C9*13 allele required significantly reduced warfarin doses. Higher doses may predispose them to bleeding complications during warfarin administration. In this study, based on the characteristics of CYP2C9 gene polymorphisms in the Han Chinese population, the pharmacogenetic algorithm was improved by incorporating the influence of the CYP2C9*13 variant. This was helpful in improving the accuracy and safety of warfarin therapy in Han Chinese patients.
A limitation of this study was the small sample size of patients with the CYP2C9*13 variant. In future, the accuracy of the conclusions should be verified in a larger population. Secondly, no CYP2C9*13 homozygotes were identified and it is unclear how to further adjust the predicted dose for homozygotes. Finally, this was a retrospective study; future prospective studies are needed to determine whether CYP2C9*13 is associated with an increased risk of adverse events.
Table 1
Primers used for amplification and sequencing of CYP2C9 and VKORC1 genes
Allele | Primer sequence | Length of amplification (bp) |
CYP2C9*2 | F: GCATCAGTGTTTGAATAAGCGGA R: CCCGCTTCACATGAGCTAAC S: TATTTGAAGCCTGTGTGGCTGAA | 1297 |
CYP2C9*3 | F: GGGTGGAACCAGGTTAGGAC R: GGGTCCAGGGCAAAGATAAT S: GATACTATGAATTTGGGACTTC | 383 |
CYP2C9*13 | F: GCATCAGTGTTTGAATAAGCGGA R: CCCGCTTCACATGAGCTAAC S: TATTTGAAGCCTGTGTGGCTGAA | 1297 |
VKORC1-1639G > A | F: AGACGCCAGAGGAAGAGAGT R: TTTGCGCTTACCCTATGCCA S: AGACGCCAGAGGAAGAGAGT | 1090 |
F, forward; R, reverse; S, sequence; bp, base pair.
Table 2
Baseline characteristics of the study population
Variables | CYP2C9*13 carriers (n = 6) | Noncarriers (n = 965) | P value |
Age (x ± s, years) | 69.5 ± 4.6 | 68.0 ± 10.1 | 0.718 |
Height (x ± s, cm) | 164.5 ± 8.0 | 167.2 ± 8.1 | 0.420 |
Weight (x ± s, kg) | 68.2 ± 7.8 | 71.5 ± 13.2 | 0.538 |
Male gender, N (%) | 5 (83.3%) | 625 (64.8%) | 0.343 |
Smoking, N (%) | 2 (33.3%) | 170 (17.6%) | 0.315 |
SCr (x ± s, mmol/L) | 68.2 ± 11.3 | 76.2 ± 17.6 | 0.265 |
Hypertension, N (%) | 2 (33.3%) | 353 (36.6%) | 0.869 |
Takes statins, N (%) | 1 (16.7%) | 267 (27.7%) | 0.548 |
Takes amiodarone, N (%) | 2 (33.3%) | 198 (20.5%) | 0.440 |
CYP2C9*2, N (%) | 0 (0%) | 1 (0.1%) | 0.937 |
CYP2C9*3, N (%) | 0 (0%) | 89 (9.2%) | 0.435 |
VKORC1-1639G > A, N (%) | 6 (100.0%) | 941 (97.5%) | 0.696 |
SCr, Serum creatinine |
Table 3
Actual and predicted therapeutic warfarin doses with predictions based on the Gage algorithm
| CYP2C9*13 carriers (n = 6) | Noncarriers (n = 965) | P value |
Actual dose, mean (SD), mg/d | 1.63 ± 0.31 | 3.33 ± 1.46 | 0.004 |
Predicted dose, mean (SD), mg/d | 2.78 ± 0.36 | 3.17 ± 0.89 | 0.288 |
Prediction error, mean (SD), mg/d | 1.16 ± 0.45 | -0.16 ± 1.37 | 0.018 |
Prediction error > 0 represents potential overdose.
Table 4
Actual and predicted warfarin doses with predictions based on the IWPC Algorithm
| CYP2C9*13 carriers (n = 6) | Noncarriers (n = 965) | P value |
Actual dose, mean (SD), mg/d | 1.63 ± 0.31 | 3.33 ± 1.46 | < 0.001 |
Predicted dose, mean (SD), mg/d | 2.66 ± 0.39 | 3.10 ± 0.91 | 0.231 |
Prediction error, mean (SD), mg/d | 1.03 ± 0.50 | -0.23 ± 1.38 | 0.022 |
Prediction error > 0 represents potential overdose.
Table 5
Multiplicative adjustment for the CYP2C9*13 variant
Genotype | Gage model adjustment (SD) | IWPC model adjustment (SD) |
Non-carriers | 1.07 (0.44) | 1.11 (0.47) |
CYP2C9*13 carriers | 0.59 (0.13) | 0.62 (0.15) |
Table 6
Actual and predicted warfarin doses with predictions based on the adjusted Gage and IWPC algorithms
Dose in CYP2C9*13 carriers | Gage Algorithm | IWPC Algorithm |
Actual dose, mean (SD), mg/d | 1.63 ± 0.31 | 1.63 ± 0.31 |
Corrected predicted dose, mean (SD), mg/d | 1.64 ± 0.21 | 1.65 ± 0.24 |
Prediction error, mean (SD), mg/d | 0.02 ± 0.35 | 0.02 ± 1.39 |