Frequency of Paraoxonase 192/55 Polymorphism in an Iranian Population

Abstract

Paraoxonase (PON1) is a serum enzyme that plays an important role in prevention of atherosclerosis and also protects against organophosphate-induced neurotoxicity. PON1 displays a high variablility in human populations. In this study, PON1-192 and −55 polymorphisms and correlation to serum PON1 activity were investigated in 132 healthy Iranian individuals from Isfahan province. The genotype frequencies for PON1-192 were approximately 48% (QQ), 42.% (QR), and 10% (RR) and for PON1-55 17% (MM), 48% (ML), and 35% (LL). Thus, the frequencies of alleles R and L were 0.31 and 0.59, respectively. PON1 activity toward paraoxon was markedly affected in both polymorphic populations in the following order QQ < QR < RR genotype for PON1-192 and MM < ML < LL genotype for PON1-55. Neither polymorphism significantly affected PON1 activity toward phenylacetate. The RR/LL individuals had the highest PON1 activity and QQ/MM individuals the least. The QR/ML haplotype was the most frequent seen in Iranians, and the RR/MM and QR/MM haplotypes were absent in this population. In conclusion, the frequencies of PON1-192 and −55 polymorphisms in this Iranian population were different from those seen in other Asian populations from Japan and China but similar to those for European Caucasians.

This study was supported by grants from the Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Tehran University (project 96812217/6/01), and Iran University of Medical Science (project MT-86).