Expression of paraoxonase isoform did not confer protection from acute sarin poisoning in the Tokyo subway terrorist attack

Abstract

We previously reported the polymorphism of the high density lipoprotein-associated enzyme paraoxonase (PON1), in the 10 sarin poisoning victims in the Tokyo subway terrorist attack. Arg₁₉₂ PON1, which has low sarin hydrolysing activity, was found to be more common in the Japanese population than in people of other races. However, from our analyses seven of the victims expressed the PON1 phenotype with high sarin hydrolysing activity and three with low sarin hydrolysing activity. These results indicate that the main factor contributing to the tragedy of the Tokyo subway terrorist attack was the high toxicity of sarin rather than the race-dependent genetic difference in the Arg₁₉₂ PON1 polymorphism.