10 1002@cpt 2316
10 1002@cpt 2316
10 1002@cpt 2316
Correspondence: Jaakko Lähteenmäki, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, PO Box 1000, 02044
VTT, Finland. Tel: +358405149869, E-mail: jaakko.lahteenmaki@vtt.fi
Conflict of Interest statement:
Mika Lehto: Consultant: BMS-Pfizer-alliance, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, and MSD; Speaker: BMS-Pfizer-
alliance, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, MSD, Terve Media and Orion Pharma.
Funding
This study was funded by Business Finland, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Ltd., Karl Fazer AB,
Novartis Finland Oy, Pfizer Oy, Roche Diagnostics Oy, Avaintec Oy, Crown CRO Oy, Mediconsult Oy and
Biobank Cooperative Finland.
This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been
through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process, which may lead to
differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi:
10.1002/CPT.2316
This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Keywords: Adverse Drug Reactions, Thrombosis, Cardiovascular Disease, Pharmacogenetics, Precision
Accepted Article
medicine
Abstract
This study aimed to analyse associations between genetic variants and the occurrence of clinical
outcomes in dabigatran, apixaban, and rivaroxaban users. This was a retrospective real-world study
linking genotype data of three Finnish biobanks with national register data on drug dispensations and
healthcare encounters. We investigated several single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the ABCG2, ABCB1,
CES1 and CYP3A5 genes potentially associated with bleeding or thromboembolic events in direct oral
anticoagulant (DOAC) users based on earlier research. We used Cox regression models to compare the
incidence of clinical outcomes between carriers and non-carriers of the SNVs or haplotypes. In total 1,806
patients on apixaban, dabigatran or rivaroxaban were studied. The ABCB1 c.3435C>T (p.Ile1145=,
rs1045642) SNV (HR 0.42, 95% CI 0.18-0.98, p=0.044) and 1236T-2677T-3435T (rs1128503-rs2032582-
rs1045642) haplotype (HR 0.44, 95% CI 0.20-0.95, p=0.036) were associated with a reduced risk for
thromboembolic outcomes, and the 1236C-2677G-3435C (HR 2.55, 95% CI 1.03-6.36, p=0.044) and 1236T-
2677G-3435C (HR 5.88, 95% CI 2.35-14.72, p<0.001) haplotypes with an increased risk for
thromboembolic outcomes in rivaroxaban users. The ABCB1 c.2482-2236G>A (rs4148738) SNV associated
with a lower risk for bleeding events (HR 0.37, 95% CI 0.16-0.89, p=0.025) in apixaban users. ABCB1
variants are potential factors affecting thromboembolic events in rivaroxaban users and bleeding events
in apixaban users. Studies with larger numbers of patients are warranted for comprehensive assessment
of the pharmacogenetic associations of DOACs and their relevance for clinical practice.
Introduction
Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) are increasingly used in the context of various clinical conditions and
procedures, including atrial fibrillation (ischemic stroke prevention), deep vein thrombosis, and
pulmonary embolism. DOACs have favourable pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties and do
The effect of genetic factors on the pharmacokinetics of DOACs have been investigated in several
studies.7–9 Indications of association between genotypes and drug plasma levels have been found in some
studies10–17, but also contradictory findings have been reported.5,18,19
In particular, the genome-wide association substudy of the RE-LY trial13,20, shows associations of ABCB1
and CES1 variants with dabigatran plasma concentration and an association of one CES1 variant with risk
of bleeding. The role of genetic variants in excessive drug exposure and resulting bleeding episodes has
been proposed also in some case reports.21,22
The aim of this retrospective real-world study was to provide more insight on the effect of genetic factors
on endpoints associated with the use of DOACs. We have linked genotype data of three Finnish biobanks
with national register data on drug dispensations and healthcare encounters to explore potential
associations of genetic variants with responses to dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban, which are the
three most used DOACs in Finland.23
Methods
Study design
Pharmacogenomics of antithrombotic drugs (PreMed study) is a retrospective cohort study linking health
data from multiple sources. The data for the study consists of three subcohorts provided by Auria
Biobank, Helsinki Biobank and THL Biobank. Each biobank first identified subjects fulfilling the inclusion
criteria of the study. Then, the biobanks formed subcohorts by linking their genomic and demographic
data with healthcare encounter data from the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare, with drug
dispensation data from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland and with patient record and laboratory
data from Finnish hospital districts and municipalities. The three pseudonymized subcohorts provided by
the biobanks were then merged by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland to form the PreMed study
cohort24. In this article we investigate the genetics-response associations of DOACs. Results on warfarin
pharmacogenetics have been reported earlier.25
Subjects with purchases of antithrombotic drugs during the period January 1st 2005 - December 31st 2006
were excluded to ensure a wash-out period of at least two years for all patients.
Genotyping
Genotyping of patients was carried out in the framework of the on-going FinnGen project26 and past
research projects of the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare.27,28 The following SNVs were included:
ABCG2 c.421C>A (p.Gln141Lys, rs2231142), ABCB1 c.3435C>T (p.Ile1145=, rs1045642), ABCB1 c.2677G>T
(p.Ala893Ser, rs2032582), ABCB1 c.2677G>A (p.Ala893Thr, rs2032582), ABCB1 c.2482-2236G>A
(rs4148738, intron 18), ABCB1 c.1236C>T (p.Gly412=, rs1128503), CYP3A5 g.6981A>G (splice defect,
CYP3A5*3, rs776746), CES1 c.1168-33C>T (rs2244613, intron 10) and CES1 c.257+885T>C (rs8192935,
intron 2).
We verified the quality of the genotype data by comparing the allele frequencies of the cohort with other
genotyping projects.29 In addition, we verified that all SNVs were in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and
confirmed that the imputation quality was sufficient (info score > 0.85).30
Drug exposure
We estimated the drug exposure based on the data on drug dispensations including package size, product
strength and the date of dispensation. The exposure was considered to have started on the date of the
first drug dispensation and was deemed to be continuous until the earliest of the following: 1) all
dispensed packages of the drug were consumed and a new package was not dispensed within 30 days, 2)
another anticoagulant (Table S2) was purchased, or 3) the study follow-up ended (December 31st 2018). If
the subject had used more than one DOAC during the study period, we chose the first DOAC used for
Outcome events
Bleeding and thromboembolic events were observed as outcomes. We considered an outpatient or
inpatient healthcare episode to be eligible as an outcome event if it occurred for the first time during the
drug exposure period and if one of the defined outcome diagnosis codes listed in Table S1 was
documented for the visit. Specific consideration was applied to recurrent thromboembolic events,
referring to thromboembolic events which had occurred before the drug use started and occurred again
during the drug exposure and for which the same diagnosis code had been documented. We considered a
recurrent thromboembolic event as an outcome only if it involved a hospitalization and if it was
documented as the primary diagnosis at the admission. These conditions were deemed necessary because
a diagnosis code of a past event is often documented also for a subsequent outpatient visit even when a
new outcome event has not occurred.
Covariates
Participant’s sex and age were available in the demographic data provided by the biobanks. Drug
indication was based on the inclusion diagnosis documented for the patient closest before the initiation of
the drug use. We categorised the patient to have cancer in case any cancer diagnosis (ICD-10 code group
C) was documented for an outpatient or inpatient visit during the exposure time or up to two years before
drug exposure started. Renal function was evaluated based on the glomerular filtration rate (GFR)
computed from the laboratory data (creatinine test). We considered the renal function to be reduced if
the GFR value was below 60 ml/min/1.73 m2.31
The patient was defined to be on dose reduction if a reduced drug dose was prescribed in 50% or more of
the dispensations. The daily doses were for dabigatran 150 mg bid (nominal) and 110 mg bid (reduced),
for rivaroxaban 20 mg qd (nominal) and 2.5/10/15 mg qd (reduced) and for apixaban 5 mg bid (nominal)
and 2.5 mg bid (reduced).
We defined that the patient was a user of an interacting drug if the patient purchased a potentially
interacting drug listed in Table S2 at least once during the DOAC exposure time. The list of potentially
interacting drugs was based on the Inxbase drug-drug interaction database.32 We included 46 drugs
potentially increasing the bleeding risk and three drugs potentially increasing the risk for thromboembolic
Statistical analyses
We analysed associations between carriers and non-carriers of SNVs or haplotypes and outcome events
for each drug user group (dabigatran, apixaban, rivaroxaban) separately.
For the SNV association analysis, we primarily used the dominant genetic model34 comparing the non-
carriers (no variant alleles) with carriers (one or two variant alleles). We repeated the analysis by using
the recessive genetic model comparing homozygous subjects having two variant alleles with subjects
having only one variant allele or no variant alleles. We also carried out an association analysis for the
ABCB1 haplotypes of c.1236C>T, c.2677G>T and c.3435C>T. The haplotypes were estimated from the
genotype data by using the PHASE (v2.1.1) software package.35 For the haplotype analysis, the dominant
and recessive models were used to compare non-carriers with carriers analogously to the SNV analysis.
The occurrence of outcome events was reported as incidence rates (events per 100 patient years). We
used the Cox proportional hazards regression models to investigate the association of the SNV and
haplotype groups with the occurrence of outcome events. The results were reported using hazard ratios
(HRs), 95% confidence intervals (CI) and p-values. We investigated potential confounders using univariate
Cox regression analysis. Based on the analysis we used antiplatelet medication in the adjusted analysis of
bleeding events, and we used atrial fibrillation as drug indication together with sex in the adjusted
analysis of thromboembolic events. We used the Schoenfeld residuals to test the proportional hazards
assumption.36 In all analyses the follow-up time was restricted to 730 days.
We used the Chi-square test to check if the allele frequencies of variants were in Hardy–Weinberg
equilibrium. We conducted all analyses with R Studio version 1.1.456 using R version 3.5.1 (2018-07-02).
Conclusions of statistical significance were based on two-sided tests with a significance level of 0.05.
Results
The full PreMed cohort consists of 7,005 patients. Of those, 25.8% (n=1,806) fulfilled the eligibility criteria
for the current study by having made at least one DOAC purchase (Figure 1). The number of study
patients was highest with rivaroxaban, and atrial fibrillation was the most prevalent indication for an oral
anticoagulant treatment. Table 1 shows key characteristics of the study patients. More complete baseline
data stratified by genetic variants are given in Table S3.
A summary of the outcome events is presented in Table S4. Hematuria (R31) and cerebral infarction
(I63.1, I63.3, I63.4 and I63.9) were the most common bleeding and thromboembolic outcome events
respectively. The median follow-up times were 217, 128 and 290 days for the occurrence of bleeding
events of dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban users, respectively. Correspondingly, the median follow-
up times for thromboembolic events were 210, 128 and 298 days. During the follow-up time the incidence
of bleeding events in patients treated with dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban was 4.4 (95% CI 2.6-7.0),
5.9 (95% CI 4.4-7.7) and 4.7 (95% CI 3.1-6.7) per 100 patient years respectively. Correspondingly, the
incidence of thromboembolic events for the three drugs was 2.4 (95% CI 1.1-4.4), 3.9 (95% CI 2.7-5.3) and
3.3 (95% CI 2.0-5.0) per 100 patient years.
The results of comparing non-carriers with carriers of the SNVs are shown in Table 2 and Figure 2. The
ABCB1 c.3435C>T SNV was associated with a reduced risk for thromboembolic events in rivaroxaban users
(HR 0.42, 95% CI 0.18-0.98, p=0.044). A similar trend was seen for the ABCB1 c.2677G>T SNV (HR 0.50,
95% CI 0.23-1.08, p=0.077). The ABCB1 c.2482-2236G>A SNV showed an association with a reduced risk
for bleeding events (HR 0.37, 95% CI 0.16-0.89, p=0.025) in apixaban treated patients.
Results of haplotype-based analysis are shown in Table 3 and Figure 3. The 1236T-2677T-3435T haplotype
was associated with a reduced risk of thromboembolic events while the 1236C-2677G-3435C and 1236T-
2677G-3435C haplotypes showed associations with increased risk of thromboembolic events in
When repeating the analyses using the recessive genetic model the association of ABCB1 c.3435C>T SNV
with thromboembolic events was still found (HR 0.34, 95% CI 0.12-1.00, p=0.05). The results for ABCB1
c.2677G>T and c.2482-2236G>A SNVs as well as for 1236T-2677T-3435T and 1236C-2677G-3435C
haplotypes showed consistent trend but were not statistically significant when analysed using the
recessive genetic model. The 1236T-2677G-3435C haplotype could not be analysed using the recessive
model due to the low number of homozygote carriers.
Results on the univariate analyses for potential confounders are listed in Table S5. Concomitant use of
acetylsalicylic acid with a DOAC was associated with increased risk for bleeding when all three DOAC drugs
were analysed together (HR 2.27, 95% CI 1.25-4.14, p=0.007). The results show a similar trend for
antiplatelets in general (HR 1.65, 95% CI 0.92-2.96, p=0.091). The analysis covering all potentially
interacting drugs did not show statistically significant association with bleeding events. We also did not
find association of concomitant use of statins with bleeding events.
We were not able to analyse the effect of interacting medication on the risk for thromboembolic events
due to low number of users of the potentially interacting drugs. Instead, we found that female sex was
associated with decreased risk of thromboembolic events when all three drugs were analysed together.
Furthermore, patients on a DOAC and with atrial fibrillation as the drug indication were found to be in a
lower risk for thromboembolic outcomes as compared to patients with other indications (HR 0.53, 95% CI
0.29-0.96, p=0.035).
The other investigated covariates – age, cancer, renal function, and reduced dose - did not show
statistically significant association with either of the outcome events. A considerable risk of
thromboembolic events in dabigatran users with reduced dose was seen, however, the result should be
interpreted with caution due to the small total number of thromboembolic outcome events (seven
events) in the dabigatran user group. For the analysis on kidney function, 73% of patients (those with
creatinine laboratory test available) were included.
Based on the results of the univariate analyses on potential confounders, we selected the use of
antiplatelet drugs to be adjusted in the analyses on bleeding events and atrial fibrillation as drug
indication and sex to be adjusted in the analyses on thromboembolic events. The results of adjusted SNV
Discussion
Association between genetic variants and clinical outcomes of DOAC users have earlier been investigated
only in a few studies carried out in prospective trial settings. For our study, we adopted the real-world
data approach which enabled us to use a longer follow-up time than has been the case in the earlier
studies.38,39
We found the ABCB1 c.3435C>T SNV and 1236T-2677T-3435T haplotype to be associated with a lower risk
and 1236C-2677G-3435C and 1236T-2677G-3435C haplotypes to be associated with a higher risk for
thromboembolic outcomes in rivaroxaban users. The ABCB1 c.3435C>T SNV has previously been identified
as potentially affecting rivaroxaban and dabigatran pharmacokinetics by modulating the P-glycoprotein
activity and thereby leading to increased plasma drug levels.12,22,40 Our results on the thromboembolic
outcomes are in line with this anticipated effect although we could not see a corresponding association
with bleeding risk.
We also found an association of the ABCB1 c.2482-2236G>A SNV with a decreased bleeding risk in
apixaban users. This variant has been found to be associated with bleeding in one earlier study10 while
other studies have not been able to confirm the association.19,34
So far, the most extensive investigation of the pharmacogenomics of DOACs has been the genome-wide
association study of Paré et al. focusing on dabigatran users.13 The study found association of the CES1
rs2244613 SNV with a decreased risk of bleeding. We could not confirm this association with bleeding in
dabigatran patients.
Among the other variants investigated in our study ABCG2 c.421C>A and CES1 c.257+885T>C suggested
possible association with bleeding events in apixaban and dabigatran users, respectively, although
statistical significance was not reached. Our results on the ABCG2 c.421C>A SNV are in line with the
results of earlier prospective studies on plasma concentration and drug clearance 11,15,41 as well as with a
The present study revealed once again the important role of antiplatelets as interacting drugs.
Antiplatelets are in many cases used in parallel with a DOAC to increase protection towards
thromboembolic events. As shown in this study and others, concomitant use of antiplatelets and a DOAC
increases the risk of bleeding.44–46 One strength of the present study is that we were able to access
information on acetylsalicylic acid usage via the data obtained from patient records.33 Sex was the most
significant confounder for thromboembolic events, which is in line with current knowledge. Sex
differences have been reported in platelet function and coagulation factor activities as well as in the rate
of cardiovascular events.47
The main limitation of the study is the relatively small number of participants. As DOACs are relatively
new drugs, the accumulated clinical data of the drug users are still limited and, furthermore, only
individuals with already existing genotype data in the biobanks could be included in the study. The small
number of subjects guided us to study patients as a single group regardless of the indication for use of
DOAC. The analysis of confounders revealed that the risk of atrial fibrillation patients for thromboembolic
events was lower, and therefore we controlled atrial fibrillation as the drug indication in the adjusted
results. The number of patients enabled us to detect only major differences in the clinical outcomes of
the genotype or haplotype groups. Furthermore, due to the limited sample size we may have missed to
find the effect of some of the potential confounders. For example, the results reflected the anticipated
effect of the renal function48, but statistical significance was not achieved. Furthermore, we could not
apply stratified analysis by dividing the bleeding events into minor and major bleedings as has been done
in larger studies with warfarin users.49
Another potential limitation is the risk of inaccuracy due to missing data. In a real-world setting the
completeness of data cannot be fully guaranteed, although the Finnish registries have proven to be of
high quality, especially in the registration of cardiovascular diagnoses.50
Conclusions
In our real-world study, we investigated ABCB1, CES1 and ABCG2 variants potentially associated with the
risk of bleeding or thromboembolic events in DOAC users. We found ABCB1 c.3435C>T SNV and 1236T-
2677T-3435T haplotype to be associated with a lower risk and the 1236C-2677G-3435C and 1236T-2677G-
3435C haplotypes to be associated with a higher risk for thromboembolic outcomes in rivaroxaban users.
Author contributions
J.L. and A.V. wrote the manuscript; J.L., A.V., J.P., K.H., M.L., M.N. and M.v.G. designed the research; J.L.,
A.V. and J.P. performed the research; J.L., A.V. and J.P. analyzed the data.
References
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anticoagulant therapy. Br. J. Haematol. 184, 912–924 (2019).
https://doi.org/10.1111/bjh.15756
2. Sikorska, J. & Uprichard, J. Direct oral anticoagulants: A quick guide. Eur. Cardiol. Rev.
12, 40–45 (2017). https://doi.org/10.15420/ecr.2017:11:2
3. Lentz, S. R. Genetic testing to guide warfarin dosing: Impact of direct oral anticoagulants.
Clin. Pharmacol. Ther. 100, 128–130 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1002/cpt.395
4. Shehab, N. et al. US emergency department visits for outpatient adverse drug events, 2013-
2014. JAMA - J. Am. Med. Assoc. 316, 2115–2125 (2016).
https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.16201
5. Gouin‐Thibault, I. et al. Interindividual variability in dabigatran and rivaroxaban exposure:
contribution of ABCB1 genetic polymorphisms and interaction with clarithromycin. J.
Figure 2. Incidence of bleeding and thromboembolic events for SNVs ABCB1 c.2482-2236G>A (a), ABCB1
c.3435C>T (b) and ABCB1 c.2677G>T (c). Abbreviations: HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval
Figure 3. Incidence of bleeding and thromboembolic events for haplotypes ABCB1 1236T-2677T-3435T (a),
1236C-2677G-3435C (b) and 1236T-2677G-3435C (c). Abbreviations: HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence
interval
Supplementary files
1. Table S1
2. Table S2
3. Table S3
4. Table S4
5. Table S5
6. Table S6
7. Table S7
Exposure time, days, median (IQR) 217 (60-671) 137 (57-391) 300 (202-561)
Number of patients
Bleeding event risk Thromboembolic event risk
(non-carrier /
SNV hazard ratio hazard ratio
heterozygote/
(95% CI), p-value (95% CI), p-value
homozygote)
Dabigatran
ABCB1 c.3435C>T 64/148/128 1.08 (0.24-4.87), p=0.923 1.16 (0.14-9.70), p=0.888
ABCB1 c.2677G>T 91/172/77 2.00 (0.44-9.02), p=0.368 0.88 (0.17-4.56), p=0.883
ABCB1 c.2677G>A 317/23/0 n/a 2.17 (0.26-18.10), p=0.473
ABCB1 c.1236C>T 93/170/77 1.27 (0.35-4.61), p=0.719 0.95 (0.18-4.87), p=0.947
ABCB1 c.2482-2236G>A 83/170/87 1.83 (0.41-8.25), p=0.432 0.83 (0.16-4.26), p=0.820
CES1 c.1168-33C>T 229/101/10 0.77 (0.24-2.51), p=0.665 1.31 (0.29-5.89), p=0.721
CES1 c.257+885T>C 168/150/22 0.49 (0.16-1.52), p=0.219 1.09 (0.24-4.88), p=0.913
Rivaroxaban
ABCB1 c.3435C>T 170/492/337 0.84 (0.37-1.91), p=0.682 0.42 (0.18-0.98), p=0.044
ABCB1 c.2677G>T 282/495/222 0.88 (0.44-1.78), p=0.727 0.50 (0.23-1.08), p=0.077
ABCB1 c.2677G>A 928/69/2 1.06 (0.33-3.43), p=0.926 n/a
Apixaban
ABCG2 c.421C>A 400/65/2 2.30 (0.89-5.95), p=0.085 0.79 (0.18-3.51), p=0.755
ABCB1 c.345C>T 75/245/147 0.81 (0.27-2.40), p=0.699 2.69 (0.35-20.48), p=0.339
ABCB1 c.2677G>T 118/256/93 1.13 (0.41-3.08), p=0.815 1.48 (0.42-5.25), p=0.545
1
Patients with zero or one variant allele compared to homozygotes to enable sufficiently large
patient groups.
Number of patients
Bleeding event risk Thromboembolic event risk
(non-carrier/
hazard ratio hazard ratio
ABCB1 haplotype heterozygote/
(95% CI), p-value (95% CI), p-value
homozygote)
Dabigatran
1236T-2677T-3435T 108/167/65 1.58 (0.44-5.76), p=0.484 1.18 (0.23-6.08), p=0.844
1236C-2677G-3435C 155/143/42 2.02 (0.62-6.55), p=0.244 2.23 (0.43-11.50), p=0.338
1236C-2677G-3435T 262/73/5 0.51 (0.11-2.33), p=0.388 0.49 (0.06-4.06), p=0.507
1236T-2677G-3435C 319/21/0 1.15 (0.15-8.83), p=0.896 n/a
Rivaroxaban
1236T-2677T-3435T 318/500/181 1.09 (0.54-2.19), p=0.808 0.44 (0.20-0.95), p=0.036
1236C-2677G-3435C 431/445/123 1.37 (0.71-2.63), p=0.347 2.55 (1.03-6.36), p=0.044
1236C-2677G-3435T 778/207/14 1.07 (0.52-2.20), p=0.847 0.78 (0.29-2.06), p=0.611
Apixaban
1236T-2677T-3435T 142/247/78 1.50 (0.55-4.10), p=0.428 1.99 (0.56-7.07), p=0.287
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