Simultaneous screening for three mutations in the ABCB1 gene

A noncoding C3435T mutation in exon 26 of the ABCB1 gene was found to be often associated with a G2677T(A) mutation in exon 21 encoding an Ala893Ser P-glycoprotein and with a noncoding C1236T mutation in exon 12. We developed a Pyrosequencing screening method that simultaneously detects all three mutations. After separate PCRs for each exon, the sequences around the potentially mutated nucleotide positions were simultaneously analyzed in a multiplex assay. The method was tested with DNA from 100 volunteers. Allele frequencies of the T1236, T2677, and T3435 alleles were 44, 42, and 50%, respectively. A mutation at position 3435 occurred together with a mutation at position 2677 or 1236 in 64 and 65% of the subjects, respectively. The most frequent haplotype, with 44.4%, was not mutated at all three positions, i.e., C1236, G2677, C3435. The second most frequent haplotype, with 37.1%, was mutated at all three positions, i.e., T1236, T2677, T3435. The most frequent genotype, with 36%, was heterozygously mutated at all three positions, i.e., C/T1236, G/T2677, C/T3435. The next most frequent genotypes were a homozygous nonmutated genotype, with 20%, and a homozygous mutated genotype, with 13%.