top of page

Prevalence of polymorphisms in thiopurine metabolism and association with adverse outcomes

Prevalence of polymorphisms in thiopurine metabolism and association with adverse outcomes: a South Asian region-specific systematic review and meta-analysis.

Jena A, Jha DK, Kumar-M P, Kasudhan KS, Kumar A, Sarwal D, Mishra S, Singh AK, Bhatia P, Patil A, Sharma V.

Published in Expert review of Clinical Pharmacology, Apr 2021.


ABSTRACT Background: Prevalence and impact of thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) and Nudix hydrolase (NUDT15) minor allele frequencies in South Asian population is unclear.

Methods: We searched PubMed and Embase with keywords-TPMT and NUDT15 combined with South Asian countries. We included studies reporting frequency of TPMT and NUDT15 polymorphisms. We estimated the pooled prevalence of TPMT and NUDT15 polymorphisms and their impact on pooled odds ratio of adverse events with thiopurines.

Results: We included 26 studies in our analysis. The pooled prevalence of NUDT15 and TPMT polymorphisms was 16.5% (95% CI: 13.09–20.58) and 4.57% (95% CI: 3.66–5.68), respectively. In patients with adverse effects, the pooled prevalence of NUDT15 and TPMT polymorphism was 49.51% (95% C.I. 21.69–77.64) and 9.47% (95% C.I. 5.39–16.11), respectively. The odds ratio (OR) of adverse events with presence of TPMT polymorphisms was 3.65 (95% C.I., 1.43–9.28). The pooled OR for adverse events in presence of NUDT15 polymorphism was 12.63 (95% C.I., 3.68–43.26).

Conclusion: NUDT15 were reported more frequently than the TPMT polymorphisms in South Asian population and were more frequently associated with adverse events. These findings may have implications for preemptive testing amongst South Asian population and immigrants prior to starting thiopurines.


KEYWORDS: Inflammatory bowel disease, azathioprine6-mercaptopurine, ulcerative colitis, autoimmune hepatitis, lymphoma Crohn’s disease

0 comments

Recent Posts

See All
bottom of page