The hydroxylation of omeprazole correlates with S-mephenytoin and proguanil metabolism

This pharmacogenetic study was aimed at studying the pattern of oxidation of omeprazole in a Turkish population and testing whether omeprazole metabolism cosegregates with the genetically determined metabolism of mephenytoin and proguanil in Turkish subjects. The hydroxylation of omeprazole was measured in 116 unrelated healthy Turkish subjects after administration of a single oral dose of omeprazole (20 mg), using the ratio of omeprazole to 5-hydroxyomeprazole in plasma 3 h after dosing. To 31 subjects, who were phenotyped with omeprazole, mephenytoin (100 mg, p.o.) or proguanil (200 mg, p.o.) were administered at least 1 week apart. The S/R ratio of mephenytoin and the ratio of proguanil to cycloguanil were determined from an 8-h urine collection. Based on the distribution of the log (omeprazole/hydroxyomeprazole) values and using the antimode value of 0.8, the frequency of poor metabolizers of omeprazole was estimated to be 7.7% (95% confidence interval 3-18%) which was similar to that in the other Caucasian populations (P = 0.54, Fisher's exact test). Three poor metabolizers of omeprazole were also classified as poor metabolizers of both mephenytoin and proguanil and no misclassification occurred with three phenotyping methods. All three methods separated poor or extensive metabolizer phenotypes with complete concordance. The ratio of omeprazole to hydroxyomeprazole correlated with the S/R ratio of mephenytoin and the ratio of proguanil to cycloguanil. These results support the hypothesis that the oxidative metabolism of three different drugs may be catalyzed by the same cytochrome P450 enzyme.