The CYP2C19*2 and CYP2C19*17 Polymorphisms play a Vital Role in Clopidogrel Responsiveness after Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Pharmacogenomics Study

Clopidogrel inhibits platelet activation and aggregation by blocking the P2Y 12 receptor. Dual antiplatelet therapy with clopidogrel and aspirin is recommended treatment by current guidelines for patients undergoing percutaneous interventions. Recurrent ischaemic cardiac events after this treatment showed lack of clopidogrel responsiveness. We aimed to investigate the most noticeable variants in the genes involved in clopidogrel pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. A total of 347 Turkish patients who underwent percutaneous coronary interventions with stent implantation were included in our study. Platelet reactivity ( PRU ) and % inhibition were measured with VerifyNow P2Y 12 assay in blood samples collected from patients who took a standard dose of clopidogrel (75 mg/day) for at least 7 days. The variants in the CYP 2C19 , CYP 3A4 , CYP 2B6 , ABCB 1 , ITGB 3 and PON 1 genes were genotyped using the Sequenom Mass ARRAY system. When grouped, the patients with PRU values >208 as non‐responsiveness to clopidogrel therapy; 104 (30%) patients were non‐responders and 243 (70%) patients were responders. A significant association was found between the CYP 2C19*2 (G636A) polymorphism and non‐responsiveness to clopidogrel therapy ( p < 0.001). An allele frequency of this single nucleotide polymorphism was high in non‐responders; its odds ratio was 2.92 compared with G allele ( p < 0.001). PRU values of CT genotypes were lower ( p = 0.029) and % inhibition values of CT genotypes were higher ( p = 0.008) compared with CC genotypes for the CYP 2C19*17 (C806T) polymorphism. None of the other genetic variants were found to be statistically associated with non‐responsiveness to clopidogrel and antiplatelet activity. Our findings suggest that the CYP 2C19*2 polymorphism is associated with non‐responsiveness to clopidogrel therapy and the CYP 2C19*17 polymorphism enhances antiplatelet activity of clopidogrel. Depending on haplotypes of these two polymorphisms, clopidogrel‐treated patients can be protected or not from stent thrombosis and ischaemic events.