SLCO1B1 c.388A > G variant incidence and the severity of hyperbilirubinemia in Indonesian neonates

OBJECTIVE: It has been established that genetic factors play a substantial role in the development of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia. The population of Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries has similar, yet different genetic makeup compared to the rest of Asia. Aside from UGT1A1, variants of SLCO1B1 have also been known to contribute to the severity of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia in Asian populations. Since there has been no report on SLCO1B1 polymorphism in relation with hyperbilirubinemia in Indonesia, this study aims to explore incidence of SLCO1B1*1B polymorphism in Indonesia based on 3 hospitals from different provinces and population, and their association with hyperbilirubinemia severity. METHODS: Our study included 88 neonates with mild and moderate-severe hyperbilirubinemia from 3 NICU in hospitals representing homogenous and heterogenous populations: Biak General Hospital Papua, Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital (Jakarta), and M Yunus Hospital (Bengkulu). We collected samples between November 2016 and September 2017. DNA was obtained from existing samples of the patients from previous studies and were subjected to Polymerase Chain Reaction – Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). We analyzed the *1B variant located in exon 5 of SLCO1B1 with TaqI restriction endonuclease. Clinical, demographic, and laboratory data was also collected from medical records and parents’ interviews. RESULTS: The most dominant variant of SLCO1B1*1B in our population is the homozygous G/G (68.18%), followed by heterozygous A/G (26.14%), and wild type A/A (5.68%). The heterozygous A/G had an Odds Ratio (OR) of 0.73 (95% CI 0.10–5.2) and homozygous G/G with OR of 0.51 (95%CI 0.08–3.27), both were not significant. Genotypic distribution across the different centers were also similar and not significant. The significant risk factors for moderate-severe hyperbilirubinemia were the population the neonate originated from (p = < 0.001) and the delivery location (p = 0.001), while SLCO1B1*1B was not associated with the different severity of hyperbilirubinemia. CONCLUSIONS: SLCO1B1*1B is not associated with higher bilirubin levels among neonates with hyperbilirubinemia in Indonesia. Further study is needed to find other potentially important genetic polymorphisms in the development of severe hyperbilirubinemia in Indonesia.