A particular drug can have different effects and side-effects on people of different ethnicity. A study done by a team of doctors at a city hospital has revealed that genetic differences do exist between North Indians and South Indians, which may effect drug response/side-effects in various diseases.
Dr Sachin Minhas from the medical oncology department at Sir Gangaram Hospital here said, “A DNA called CYP2C8, an important member of the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes, affects the activity of various drugs used in routine clinical practice.”
The doctors in the medical oncology department studied 251 healthy, unrelated North Indians and 245 healthy, unrelated South Indians and obtained four millilitres of venous blood from each subject, from which the DNA was subsequently isolated.
The doctor said, “The presence of the DNA has been shown to impact the clearance of paclitaxel (a mitotic inhibitor used in cancer chemotherapy) in ovarian cancer patients. Subsequently, the DNA was found playing an important role in drug interactions.”
In the study, the variant of the said DNA was found at a frequency of 3 per cent in North Indians, and 0.8 per cent in South Indians. Notably, the frequency is significantly lower than that of British (Caucasians). The CYP2C8 variant was not found in African and Japanese populations.
The doctors have estimated the prevalence of CYP2C8 polymorphisms in healthy North Indian population.
“The study has been done for the purpose of better understanding of appropriate drugs that are metabolised by the CYP2C8 enzyme, in the population studied.”