The Influence of Structural Variants of the CES1 Gene on the Pharmacokinetics of Enalapril, Presumably Due to Linkage Disequilibrium with the Intronic rs2244613

Variants in the CES1 gene encoding carboxylesterase 1 may affect the metabolism of enalapril to the active metabolite enalaprilat. It was shown that the A allele of rs71647871 and the C allele of rs2244613 led to a decrease in plasma enalaprilat concentrations. This study aimed to estimate the effect of structural haplotypes of CES1 containing the pseudogene CES1P1, or a hybrid of the gene and the pseudogene CES1A2, on the pharmacokinetics of enalapril. We included 286 Caucasian patients with arterial hypertension treated with enalapril. Genotyping was performed using real-time PCR and long-range PCR. Peak and trough plasma enalaprilat concentrations were lower in carriers of CES1A2. The studied haplotypes were in linkage disequilibrium with rs2244613: generally, the A allele was in the haplotype containing the CES1P1, and the C allele was in the haplotype with the CES1A2. Thus, carriers of CES1A2 have reduced CES1 activity against enalapril. Linkage disequilibrium of the haplotype containing the CES1P1 or CES1A2 with rs2244613 should be taken into account when genotyping the CES1 gene.