DNA polymorphisms: Discovery sheds light on drug dosing challenge

UW TechTransfer recently licensed technology for predicting patient response to warfarin, an anticoagulant drug commonly prescribed for patients at risk for stroke or heart attack caused by blood clots.

Patient response to warfarin varies widely. Traditionally, this has meant that finding the correct dose was a challenge that could sometimes take months of frequent monitoring and readjusting. Serious side effects, such as excessive bleeding, can occur if too much of the drug is administered, while too little can be insufficient to prevent blood clots from forming.

Mark Rieder, UW research assistant professor in the Department of Genome Sciences, and Allan Rettie, professor and chair of Medicinal Chemistry, discovered changes in patient DNA sequences (known as polymorphisms) that correlate with patient response to warfarin. Knowing which of the polymorphisms are present, along with the patient’s clinical picture, is a predictor of how sensitive a patient is to warfarin, and therefore, what level of the drug is appropriate for that patient.

The strategy of licensing this technology non-exclusively will likely make an affordable diagnostic test for the presence of specific polymorphisms quickly and widely available to the nearly 2 million patients who take the drug annually.

A genetic test for warfarin response would allow physicians to prescribe the appropriate and safe dose of the drug in a timely manner after major surgery to prevent blood clot formation, after a heart attack or stroke, or to treat blood clotting disorders.

Commercial interest in the technology is high, and UW TechTransfer is negotiating with several other companies for non-exclusive rights to the use of these polymorphisms as predictors of warfarin response.

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