Influence of CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genotypes on venlafaxine metabolic ratios and stereoselective metabolism in forensic autopsy cases.

We investigated whether polymorphisms in the CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genes influence the metabolic ratios and enantiomeric S/R ratios of venlafaxine (VEN) and its metabolites O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODV), N-desmethylvenlafaxine (NDV) and N,O-didesmethylvenlafaxine (DDV) in blood from forensic autopsy cases. In all, 94 postmortem cases found positive for VEN during toxicological screening were included. The CYP2D6 genotype was shown to significantly influence the ODV/VEN (P=0.003), DDV/NDV (P=0.010) and DDV/ODV (P=0.034) ratios. The DDV/ODV (P=0.013) and DDV/VEN (P=0.021) ratios were significantly influenced by the CYP2C19 genotype. The S/R ratios of VEN were significantly influenced by both CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genotypes. CYP2D6 poor metabolizers (PMs) had lower S/R VEN ratios and CYP2C19 PMs had high S/R ratios of VEN in comparison. Our results show that the CYP2D6 genotype influences the O-demethylation whereas CYP2C19 influences the N-demethylation of VEN and its metabolites. In addition, we show a stereoselective metabolism where CYP2D6 favours the R-enantiomer whereas CYP2C19 favours the S-enantiomer.