Sulfation pharmacogenetics:SULT1A1 and SULT1A2 allele frequencies in Caucasian, Chinese and African-American subjects

Abstract

Sulfotransferase (SULT) enzymes catalyze the sulfate conjugation of drugs, other xenobiotics, neurotransmitters and hormones. The genes for SULT1A1 and SULT1A2 contain common genetic polymorphisms that are associated with individual variations in levels of enzyme activity as well as variations in biochemical and physical properties. We set out to compare the frequencies of common SULT1A1 and SULT1A2 alleles in Caucasian, Chinese and African-American subjects. Allele frequencies for SULT1A1*1, *2 and *3 in 242 Caucasian subjects were 0.656, 0.332 and 0.012, respectively. Frequencies of those same alleles were significantly different in 290 Chinese subjects: 0.914, 0.080 and 0.006, respectively, as were frequencies in 70 African-American subjects: 0.477, 0.294 and 0.229, respectively. Ethnic variation in allele frequencies was also observed for SULT1A2, with frequencies in Caucasian subjects for SULT1A2*1, *2 and *3 of 0.507, 0.389 and 0.104; frequencies in Chinese of 0.924 and 0.076 with no *3 alleles observed; and, finally, in African-Americans frequencies of 0.637, 0.249 and 0.114, respectively. We also found that SULT1A1*2 and SULT1A2*2, the most common variant alleles for these two genes, were in positive linkage disequilibrium in all three populations studied, with D' values of 0.776 in Caucasian (P < 0.001), 0.915 in Chinese (P < 0.001) and 0.864 in African-American subjects (P < 0.001). These observations represent a step towards determining the possible functional implications for individual variations in sulfate conjugation of common genetic polymorphisms for SULT1A1 and SULT1A2.

Biological Monitoring of Bisphenol A in a Korean Population

“…Allele frequencies in this Korean population, 0.89 and 0.11 for SULT1A1*1 and SULT1A1*2, respectively, followed the Hardy-Weinberg law. These frequencies are quite different from those of the Caucasians (0.70 and 0.30, respectively; Carlini et al 2001), but are similar to those of the Chinese population (0.91 and 0.08, respectively; Carlini et al 2001). The Korean subjects used plastic containers as their main food containers, rather than glass or vinyl pack/wrap.…”

“…Among phase II enzymes, sulfotransferases (SULTs) and uridine diphosphate glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) are known to be involved in BPA metabolism (Elsby et al 2001;Yokota et al 1999;Suiko et al 2000;Raftogianis et al 1997). Among SULTs, SULT1A1 is thought to sulfate phenolic compounds like BPA, and is considered to be genetically polymorphic (Raftogianis et al 1997;Nowell et al 2000;Carlini et al 2001) in human. There are four known different alleles in SULT1A1, and are reported as: SULT1A1*1, SULT1A1*2, SULT1A1*3, and SULT1A1*4 in the literature.…”

“…Furthermore, there are suspected ethnical differences in the frequencies of these alleles. Although SULT1A1*1 and SULT1A1*2 are common in Caucasian populations, the frequency of the latter is rare in the Chinese populations (Carlini et al 2001). The SULT1A1*2 allele has an A to G transition at nucleotide 638 in exon 7 of SULT1A1.…”

“…Toxicol. 44, 546 -551 (2003) DOI: 10.1007/s00244-002-2124 A R C H I V E S O F Environmental Contamination a n d Toxicology transition results in an Arg 213 to His alteration in the amino acid sequence and leads to lower enzyme activity in people with SULT1A1*2 than in people with SULT1A1*1 (Raftogianis et al 1997;Nowell et al 2000;Carlini et al 2001). Thus, urinary BPA levels can be affected by the genetic polymorphism of SULT1A1.…”

Forensic confirmatory analysis of ethyl sulfate—A new marker for alcohol consumption—by liquid-chromatography/electrospray ionization/tandem mass spectrometry

“…Later, Manautou and Carlson compared the hepatic and pulmonary metabolism via glucuronidation and sulfation in rats and rabbits [6]. Meanwhile, for sulfate conjugation a superfamily of cytosolic sulfotransferases has been described that shows a genetic polymorphism [7]. The conjugation of aliphatic alcohols in humans has been mentioned by Bonte et al when investigating metabolites of higher aliphatic alcohols [8]; detection was performed indirectly via cleavage by sulfatase followed by analysis of the alcohols.…”