Genetic risk of myopathy after taking cholesterol-lowering medication

     Many people treat high cholesterol with statins, a class of medications that includes imvastatin, atorvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, pravastatin and rosuvastatin. The use of statins can induce side effects such as myopathy and muscle problems, which can lead to acute kidney failure and death. Variants of the SLCO1B1 gene can lead to the identification of this risk. The CC, CT or TT variants of the SLCO1B1 gene, associated with the risk of statin-induced myopathy.

-CC genotype (homozygous) indicates a 57-fold increased risk (17%) of the patient developing myopathy due to the use of statins;

-CT genotype (heterozygous) indicates a 15-fold increased risk (4.5%) of the patient developing myopathy when treated with a statin;

-TT genotype (homozygous) indicates that the patient has a low baseline risk genotype (0.3%) of developing myopathy with statin use.