Abstract

BACKGROUND: Genetic polymorphisms have a potential clinical role in determining both inter-individual and inter-ethnic differences in drug efficacy, but we have not found any pharmacogenomics information regarding minorities, such as the Miao ethnic group. Our study aimed to screen numbers of the Miao ethnic group for genotype frequencies of VIP variants and to determine differences between the Miao and other human populations worldwide.

MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this study, we genotyped 66 Very Important Pharmacogene (VIP) variants selected from PharmGKB in 98 unrelated, healthy Miao individuals from the Guizhou province and compared our data with 12 other populations, including 11 populations from the HapMap data set and Xi’an Han Chinese.

RESULTS: Using the χ2 test, we found that the allele frequencies of the VDR rs1544410 and VKORC1 (rs9934438) variants in the Miao population are quite different from that in other ethnic groups. Furthermore, we found that genotype frequencies of rs1801133 (MTHFR) in the 13 selected populations are significantly different. Population structure and F-statistics (Fst) analysis show that the genetic background of the Miao is relatively close to that of Chinese in metropolitan Denver, CO, USA (CHD).

CONCLUSIONS: Our results help complete the information provided by the pharmacogenomics database of the Miao ethnic group and provide a theoretical basis for safer drug administration, which may be useful for diagnosing and treating diseases in this population.

Keywords: Asian Continental Ancestry Group - genetics, Alleles, China, Ethnic Groups - genetics, Gene Frequency, Genetics, Population, Genomic Structural Variation, HapMap Project, Pharmacogenetics - methods, Polymerase Chain Reaction, Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide, Vitamin K Epoxide Reductases - genetics