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Population genetic structure of variable drug response

Nature Genetics volume 29, pages 265–269 (2001)Cite this article

Abstract

Geographic patterns of genetic variation, including variation at drug metabolizing enzyme (DME) loci and drug targets, indicate that geographic structuring of inter-individual variation in drug response may occur frequently. This raises two questions: how to represent human population genetic structure in the evaluation of drug safety and efficacy, and how to relate this structure to drug response. We address these by (i) inferring the genetic structure present in a heterogeneous sample and (ii) comparing the distribution of DME variants across the inferred genetic clusters of individuals. We find that commonly used ethnic labels are both insufficient and inaccurate representations of the inferred genetic clusters, and that drug-metabolizing profiles, defined by the distribution of DME variants, differ significantly among the clusters. We note, however, that the complexity of human demographic history means that there is no obvious natural clustering scheme, nor an obvious appropriate degree of resolution. Our comparison of drug-metabolizing profiles across the inferred clusters establishes a framework for assessing the appropriate level of resolution in relating genetic structure to drug response.

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Figure 1: Allele frequencies at each DME gene in the STRUCTURE-defined clusters.
Figure 2: Allele frequencies at each of the DME variants in the ethnically labeled groups.

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Acknowledgements

D.B.G. is a Royal Society/Wolfson Research Merit Award holder.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Galton Laboratory, University College London, London, UK

    James F. Wilson, Alice C. Smith, Fiona Gratrix & David B. Goldstein

  2. Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    James F. Wilson

  3. Departments of Biology, The Centre for Genetic Anthropology, University College London, London, UK

    Michael E. Weale, Benjamin Fletcher, Mark G. Thomas & Neil Bradman

  4. Genostics Ltd, 28/30 Little Russell Street, London, WC1A 2HN, UK

    Michael E. Weale

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  1. James F. Wilson
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Correspondence to David B. Goldstein.

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Wilson, J., Weale, M., Smith, A. et al. Population genetic structure of variable drug response. Nat Genet 29, 265–269 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng761

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