PPRG Abstract, 2000

UCLA Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Research Group

The UCLA Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Research Group (PPRG) has been developed to test the hypothesis that pharmacogenetic approaches can be used to optimize treatment strategies for common and complex disorders of public health relevance to Mexican-Americans, who are the poorest and most rapidly growing minority group in the U.S. To test this general hypothesis, our project has the following specific aim: To study pharmacogenetics in Mexican Americans, using depression treatment as a proof of the concept that pharmacogenetic approaches can be used to optimize treatment strategies for common and complex disorders in this population. This aim is addressed by a rigorous, prospective, phenotype-to-genotype study. The phenotype component consists of a clinical trial in which antidepressant treatment response is characterized in 500 patients participating is a double-blind study of desipramine or fluoxetine treatment of major depressive disorder in Mexican-Americans. For the purposes of this study, Mexican-Americans are defined as individuals with at least three grandparents born in Mexico. Treatment, treatment-response data, and DNA collection are conducted by a team of highly experienced bilingual personnel with an outstanding track record of work with the Los Angeles Mexican-American community. Phenotypic data are collected weekly over nine weeks to generate continuous outcome measures. After all samples are collected, genotyping will be done as part of a subcontract with Los Alamos National Laboratory (P.I.: John Nolan, PhD), using a candidate gene strategy. Our goal is to make the unique dataset of the phenotype of antidepressant treatment response in Mexican-Americans and related genotypes available to the scientific community through PharmGKB.