Summary
The objective of this study was to assess the relative influence of VKORC1 and CYP2C9 genetic variants on several clinical outcomes related to warfarin treatment. We conducted
a retrospective cohort analysis of 172 anticoagulation clinic patients followed from
warfarin initiation. We assessed the following clinical outcomes: time to stable dose;
time in, above, and below therapeutic range; the probability of overanticoagulation
(international normalized ratio [INR] >5); frequency of anticoagulation clinic visits;
and the contribution of genetics to maintenance dose. Patients with CYP2C9 variants, compared to those without, achieved stable dose 48% later (p<0.01),spent
a higher proportion of time above range in the first month of therapy (14% vs. 25%,
p=0.07), and had a higher odds ratio (OR) of an INR >5 (OR: 4.15, p=0.03). In contrast,
the only statistically significant effect withVKORC1 was a higher odds of an INR >5 (OR: 4.47,p=0.03) for patients homozygous for theVKORC1 low-dose haplotype (AA) compared to heterozygotes. We did not detect an influence
of CYP2C9 norVKORC1 on the frequency of clinic visits. CYP2C9 alone,VKORC1 alone, and a combination of genetic and clinical factors explained 12%, 27%, and
50%,respectively, of the variation in warfarin maintenance dose. In conclusion, genetic
variation in VKORC1 appears to have a different influence than CYP2C9 on anticoagulation-related outcomes such as bleeding events and time in therapeutic
range. This difference may be due, in part, to pharmacokinetics factors (e.g. drug
half-life), which are influenced primarily by CYP2C9; these findings should be confirmed in additional studies.
Keywords
Anticoagulation - pharmacogenetics - pharmacogenomics