Impact of genetic polymorphisms in ABCB1, CYP2B6, OPRM1, ANKK1 and DRD2 genes on methadone therapy in Han Chinese patients.

AIM: The present study explored the integrative effect of genes encoding methadone pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic pathways on methadone maintenance doses in Han Chinese Patients.

MATERIALS &

METHODS

Genomic DNA was extracted from 321 opioid-dependent patients and 202 healthy controls, and realtime-PCR and PCR-RFLP were conducted to determine the genotypes.

RESULTS

Pair-wise comparisons revealed that carriers of the variants ABCB1 3435C>T or CYP2B6 516G>T alleles were more likely to require a higher methadone dose than noncarriers (both p < 0.0001). On the other hand, carriers of the variant DRD2 -214A>G or 939C>T allele had a twofold chance of requiring a lower methadone dose than noncarriers (p = 0.001). Proportional odds regression with adjustment of cofactors demonstrated that ABCB1, CYP2B6, OPRM1, ANKK1 and DRD2 genetic variants were jointly correlated with optimal methadone dose (adjusted r(2) = 53%).

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide new insight to the fact that the interindividual variability of methadone dosage requirement is polygenetic and cannot be explained by a single-gene effect.