Genetic polymorphisms of CYP2D6 in Chinese mainland

Objective To observe the significant differences in the frequencies of the cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6) alleles in Chinese popoulations. Methods Tetra-primer polymerase chain reaction (PCR), allele specific amplification (ASA) PCR and multiplex long PCR were developed to detect the CYP2D6 alleles *2, *3, *4, *5, *6, *8, *10 and *14 in 223 subjects from Chinese mainland. Results The CYP2D6* 5 allele was the most frequent poor metabolizer (PM) allele in Chinese (7.2%), followed by CYP2D6* 14 (2.0%) which was only detected in orientals. There was only 0.2% CYP2D6* 4, and no CYP2D6* 3, *6 and *8 were detected. In contrast to the Caucasians, the most frequent allele in Chinese was the *10 allele with a frequency of 51.6%. Conclusion The frequencies of PM alleles, CYP2D6* 5 and CYP2D6*14, were higher; but the frequency of CYP2D6* 10 was lower in mainland Chinese population than that in other orientals.