Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Aug;77(4):1040-1049.
doi: 10.1007/s43440-025-00746-1. Epub 2025 Jun 9.

Unveiling hidden risks: pharmacogenetic insights from a cross-sectional study of statin therapy in the Indian population

Shaik Mohammad Naushad  1   2 , Palani Kumar Palanichamy  3 , Jagadeesh Babu Sreemanthula  3 , Yadam Reddy Kanaka Durga Devi  3 , Palakonda Gopi  3 , Tajamul Hussain  4   5 , Vijay Kumar Kutala  6
Affiliations

Unveiling hidden risks: pharmacogenetic insights from a cross-sectional study of statin therapy in the Indian population

Shaik Mohammad Naushad et al. Pharmacol Rep. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Background: Statin usage has increased significantly in India due to the very high incidence of dyslipidemia, however, approximately 18% of the population is at risk for statin-induced myopathy. Hence, we conducted a population-level screening for pharmacogenetic determinants of statin therapy, particularly Solute Carrier Organic Anion Transporter Family Member 1B1 (SLCO1B1) and ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2).

Materials and methods: Whole exome sequencing was performed in 2180 subjects, and the variant data were segregated further into diplotypes and phenotypes.

Results: SLCO1B1 normal function was observed in 81% of subjects (diplotypes: 1/*1, *1/*14, *1/*20, *1/*37, and *37/*37). Increased SLCO1B1 function was observed in 8% of the population (diplotypes: *14/*14 and *20/*20). Decreased function of SLCO1B1 (*1/*15) was observed in 5% of the population. Poor function of SLCO1B1 was observed in 6% of the population (diplotypes: *5/*5 and *15/*15). About 81.46% of subjects displayed normal ABCG2 function, while 17.34% had decreased and 1.19% had poor function. Combined SLCO1B1/ABCG2 functional defects were observed in 7.4% of subjects. Two rare SLCO1B1 variants in SLCO1B1 i.e., rs201722521 and rs71581988, were reported to affect the binding affinity of certain statins. The SLCO1B1 C-C-C-A-A-A haplotype was associated with a 2.22-fold risk for hyperbilirubinemia (95% CI: 1.13-4.36, p = 0.02). Rosuvastatin's daily dose of up to 10 mg is well tolerated across the different SLCO1B1 functionality groups.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that 11% of our population exhibit decreased or poor function of SLCO1B1 and 7.4% exhibit decreased or poor function of both SLCO1B1 and ABCG2, necessitating adjustments in daily statin doses to minimize the risk for statin-induced myopathy.

Keywords: ATP-binding cassette sub-family G member 2 (ABCG2); Pharmacogenomics; Solute carrier organic anion transporter family member 1B1 (SLCO1B1); Statins-induced myopathy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Ethical Committee of Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Hyderabad (EC/NIMS/1578/2015). Consent to participate: Written informed consent was obtained from all the study participants. Consent to publish: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Anjana RM, Unnikrishnan R, Deepa M, Pradeepa R, Tandon N, Das AK et al. Metabolic non-communicable disease health report of India: the ICMR-INDIAB national cross-sectional study (ICMR-INDIAB-17). Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2023;11(7):474–489. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(23)00119-5 . PMID: 37301218.
    1. Gupta R, Sharma M, Goyal NK, Bansal P, Lodha S, Sharma KK. Gender differences in 7 years trends in cholesterol lipoproteins and lipids in india: insights from a hospital database. Indian J Endocrinol Metab 2016 Mar-Apr;20(2):211–8. https://doi.org/10.4103/2230-8210.176362 . PMID: 27042418; PMCID: PMC4792023.
    1. Puri R, Mehta V, Duell PB, Wangnoo SK, Rastogi A, Mohan V et al. Management of diabetic dyslipidemia in indians: expert consensus statement from the lipid association of India. J Clin Lipidol. 2023 Mar-Apr;17(2):e1–14. Epub 2022 Nov 23. PMID: 36577628. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacl.2022.11.002
    1. Blais JE, Wei Y, Yap KKW, Alwafi H, Ma TT, Brauer R et al. Trends in lipid-modifying agent use in 83 countries. Atherosclerosis. 2021;328:44–51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2021.05.016 . PMID: 34091069.
    1. Pradhan A, Kuka R, Vishwakarma P, Ali W, Perrone MA, Iellamo F, et al. Lipid profile and small dense Low-Density lipoprotein in acute coronary syndrome patients: relationships to demographic, clinical, angiographic, and therapeutic variables. J Clin Med. 2022;11(22):6846. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm11226846 . PMID: 36431323; PMCID: PMC9697552. - DOI - PubMed - PMC

Substances

LinkOut - more resources