The Presentation
A presentation concerning Applications of Pharmacogenetics: Genetics of Clozapine Response as a Model is being conducted by Dalu Mancama, from the Clinical Neuropharmacology, Institute of Psychiatry, London at the 54th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC). AACC (http://www.aacc.org/) is the scientific organization for clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, and research scientists. Their primary commitment is the understanding of laboratory testing to identify, monitor and treat human disease. More than 11,000 attendees are expected for the meeting, which is being held at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, FL, July 28-August 1, 2002.

Dr. Mancamas presentation will highlight the following from the teams current research:

• Drug metabolizing enzymes: Antipsychotic medication metabolism is primarily mediated by the cytochrome P450 (CYP) isoenzymes. Currently more than 30 distinct subtypes have been identified (enzymes CYP1A2, CYP3A4, CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 of particular importance).
• Drug enzyme interaction: The metabolic relationship between antipsychotic medications Haloperidol, Ziprasidone, Risperidone, Olanzapine, Quetiapine, Sertindole, and Clozapine to enzymes CYP1A2, CYP2D6, CYP3A4, CYP2D6, CYP3A4, CYP1A2,CYP2D6, CYP3A4, CYP2D6, CYP1A2, and CYP3A4.
• Genetic variation and enzyme function: That the influence of genetic polymorphisms of CYP enzyme activity is well established and is extensively demonstrated for the CYP2D6 subtype. Essentially, the polymorphisms confer certain types of differences in drug metabolism for clozapine, which results in extensive metabolizers (EM) for 75-85 percent of the population, poor metabolizers (PM) is for 10-l5 percent of the population, and ultra-metabolizers (UM) is between one and ten percent of th
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