Pharmacogenomics

Resveratrol in Liquor Exacerbates Alcoholic Liver Injury with a Reduced Therapeutic Effect in Mice: An Unsupervised Herbal Wine Habit Is Risky

Sat, 2022-11-26 06:00

Nutrients. 2022 Nov 10;14(22):4752. doi: 10.3390/nu14224752.

ABSTRACT

People in Eastern countries hold a tradition of soaking herbal medicine in wine; however, the efficacy and safety of herbal wine have not been rigorously assessed. By assessing the efficacy of resveratrol (RSV) in ethanol against alcoholic liver disease (ALD) in mice, we aimed to offer a perspective on the use of herbal wine. To simulate the behaviour of herbal wine users, RSV (15 mg/kg) soaked in ethanol (RSV-alcohol) was administrated via gavage to the mice, here with alcohol consumption-induced ALD. RSV soaked in water (RSV-water) was the treatment control. The efficacy and safety of RSV on ALD were evaluated. Compared with the RSV-water group, a higher rate of mortality was found in the RSV-alcohol group (50.0% vs. 20.0%), which also exhibited more severe liver injury. RSV significantly increased the exposure of alcohol by 126.0%, which was accompanied by a significant inhibition of the ethanol metabolic pathway. In contrast, alcohol consumption significantly reduced exposure to RSV by 95.0%. Alcohol consumption had little effect on the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes in RSV; however, alcohol seemed to reduce the absorption of RSV. RSV in liquor exacerbates alcoholic liver injury and has a reduced therapeutic effect, suggesting that the habit of herbal wine use without supervision is risky.

PMID:36432440 | DOI:10.3390/nu14224752

Categories: Literature Watch

Natural Hemp-Ginger Extract and Its Biological and Therapeutic Efficacy

Sat, 2022-11-26 06:00

Molecules. 2022 Nov 9;27(22):7694. doi: 10.3390/molecules27227694.

ABSTRACT

The prevention and treatment of skin diseases remains a major challenge in medicine. The search for natural active ingredients that can be used to prevent the development of the disease and complement treatment is on the rise. Natural extracts of ginger and hemp offer a wide range of bioactive compounds with potential health benefits. This study evaluates the effectiveness of hemp and ginger extract as a supportive treatment for skin diseases. It reports a synergistic effect of hemp and ginger extract. The contents of cannabinoids and components of ginger are determined, with the highest being CBD (587.17 ± 8.32 µg/g) and 6-gingerol (60.07 ± 0.40 µg/g). The minimum inhibitory concentration for Staphylococcus aureus (156.5 µg/mL), Escherichia coli (625.2 µg/mL) and Candida albicans (78.3 µg/mL) was also analyzed. Analysis of WM-266-4 cells revealed the greatest decrease in metabolic activity in cells exposed to the extract at a concentration of 1.00 µg/mL. Regarding the expression of genes associated with cellular processes, melanoma aggressiveness, resistance and cell survival, a significant difference was found in the expression of ABCB5, CAV1 and S100A9 compared with the control (cells not exposed to the extract).

PMID:36431795 | DOI:10.3390/molecules27227694

Categories: Literature Watch

DRPreter: Interpretable Anticancer Drug Response Prediction Using Knowledge-Guided Graph Neural Networks and Transformer

Sat, 2022-11-26 06:00

Int J Mol Sci. 2022 Nov 11;23(22):13919. doi: 10.3390/ijms232213919.

ABSTRACT

Some of the recent studies on drug sensitivity prediction have applied graph neural networks to leverage prior knowledge on the drug structure or gene network, and other studies have focused on the interpretability of the model to delineate the mechanism governing the drug response. However, it is crucial to make a prediction model that is both knowledge-guided and interpretable, so that the prediction accuracy is improved and practical use of the model can be enhanced. We propose an interpretable model called DRPreter (drug response predictor and interpreter) that predicts the anticancer drug response. DRPreter learns cell line and drug information with graph neural networks; the cell-line graph is further divided into multiple subgraphs with domain knowledge on biological pathways. A type-aware transformer in DRPreter helps detect relationships between pathways and a drug, highlighting important pathways that are involved in the drug response. Extensive experiments on the GDSC (Genomics of Drug Sensitivity and Cancer) dataset demonstrate that the proposed method outperforms state-of-the-art graph-based models for drug response prediction. In addition, DRPreter detected putative key genes and pathways for specific drug-cell-line pairs with supporting evidence in the literature, implying that our model can help interpret the mechanism of action of the drug.

PMID:36430395 | DOI:10.3390/ijms232213919

Categories: Literature Watch

Multi-Omics Alleviates the Limitations of Panel Sequencing for Cancer Drug Response Prediction

Sat, 2022-11-26 06:00

Cancers (Basel). 2022 Nov 15;14(22):5604. doi: 10.3390/cancers14225604.

ABSTRACT

Comprehensive genomic profiling using cancer gene panels has been shown to improve treatment options for a variety of cancer types. However, genomic aberrations detected via such gene panels do not necessarily serve as strong predictors of drug sensitivity. In this study, using pharmacogenomics datasets of cell lines, patient-derived xenografts, and ex vivo treated fresh tumor specimens, we demonstrate that utilizing the transcriptome on top of gene panel features substantially improves drug response prediction performance in cancer.

PMID:36428696 | DOI:10.3390/cancers14225604

Categories: Literature Watch

CYP2B6 SINGLE NUCLEOTIDE POLYMORPHISMS IN AN AZERBAIJANI POPULATION

Fri, 2022-11-25 06:00

Georgian Med News. 2022 Sep;(330):90-93.

ABSTRACT

Despite being one of the less-characterized human isoforms, cytochrome P450 2B6 is already known for its participation in the metabolism of many drugs and several environmental carcinogens. It has been studied in different populations, but ethnicity is a crucial variable to account for interindividual variability. ; This study aimed to investigate the genotype and allelic frequencies of CYP2B6 c.516G>T SNP in an Azerbaijani population, as the determination of SNP's prevalence will be helpful in further pharmacogenetics research and optimization of personalized drug therapy in Azerbaijan. ; Identification of CYP2B6*6 allelic and genotype frequencies in 100 volunteers was performed using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) technique. The obtained results were confirmed by next-generation sequencing. ; The frequency of the *6 allele was 0.275, with the *1 allele frequency being 0.725. The frequency of the CYP2B6*1/*1, CYP2B6*1/*6 and CYP2B6*6/*6 genotypes were 0.55, 0.35, 0.1, respectively. ; This is the first investigation to report the frequencies of CYP2B6*/6 alleles in the Azerbaijani population. The results of this study suggest that genetic polymorphisms in the CYP2B6 gene are abundantly present among Azerbaijani individuals.

PMID:36427849

Categories: Literature Watch

Bioinformatics driven discovery of small molecule compounds that modulate the FOXM1 and PPARA pathway activities in breast cancer

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

Pharmacogenomics J. 2022 Nov 24. doi: 10.1038/s41397-022-00297-1. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Our previous studies demonstrated that the FOXM1 pathway is upregulated and the PPARA pathway downregulated in breast cancer (BC), and especially in the triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) subtype. Targeting the two pathways may offer potential therapeutic strategies to treat BC, especially TNBC which has the fewest effective therapies available among all BC subtypes. In this study we identified small molecule compounds that could modulate the PPARA and FOXM1 pathways in BC using two methods. In the first method, data were initially curated from the Connectivity Map (CMAP) database, which provides the gene expression profiles of MCF7 cells treated with different compounds as well as paired controls. We then calculated the changes in the FOXM1 and PPARA pathway activities from the compound-induced gene expression profiles under each treatment to identify compounds that produced a decreased activity in the FOXM1 pathway or an increased activity in the PPARA pathway. In the second method, the CMAP database tool was used to identify compounds that could reverse the expression pattern of the two pathways in MCF7 cells. Compounds identified as repressing the FOXM1 pathway or activating the PPARA pathway by the two methods were compared. We identified 19 common compounds that could decrease the FOXM1 pathway activity scores and reverse the FOXM1 pathway expression pattern, and 13 common compounds that could increase the PPARA pathway activity scores and reverse the PPARA pathway expression pattern. It may be of interest to validate these compounds experimentally to further investigate their effects on TNBCs.

PMID:36424525 | DOI:10.1038/s41397-022-00297-1

Categories: Literature Watch

Targeting Xkr8 via nanoparticle-mediated in situ co-delivery of siRNA and chemotherapy drugs for cancer immunochemotherapy

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

Nat Nanotechnol. 2022 Nov 24. doi: 10.1038/s41565-022-01266-2. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Activation of scramblases is one of the mechanisms that regulates the exposure of phosphatidylserine to the cell surface, a process that plays an important role in tumour immunosuppression. Here we show that chemotherapeutic agents induce overexpression of Xkr8, a scramblase activated during apoptosis, at the transcriptional level in cancer cells, both in vitro and in vivo. Based on this finding, we developed a nanocarrier for co-delivery of Xkr8 short interfering RNA and the FuOXP prodrug to tumours. Intravenous injection of our nanocarrier led to significant inhibition of tumour growth in colon and pancreatic cancer models along with increased antitumour immune response. Targeting Xkr8 in combination with chemotherapy may represent a novel strategy for the treatment of various types of cancers.

PMID:36424448 | DOI:10.1038/s41565-022-01266-2

Categories: Literature Watch

Pharmacological data science perspective on fatal incidents of morphine treatment

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

Pharmacol Ther. 2022 Nov 21:108312. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2022.108312. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Morphine prescribed for analgesia has caused drug-related deaths at an estimated incidence of 0.3% to 4%. Morphine has pharmacological properties that make it particularly difficult to assess the causality of morphine administration with a patient's death, such as its slow transfer between plasma and central nervous sites of action and the existence of the active metabolite morphine-6-glucuronide with opioid agonistic effects, Furthermore, there is no well-defined toxic dose or plasma/blood concentration for morphine. Dosing is often adjusted for adequate pain relief. Here, we summarize reported deaths associated with morphine therapy, including associated morphine exposure and modulating patient factors such as pharmacogenetics, concomitant medications, or comorbidities. In addition, we systematically analyzed published numerical information on the stability of concentrations of morphine and its relevant metabolites in biological samples collected postmortem. A medicolegal case is presented in which the causality of morphine administration with death was in dispute and pharmacokinetic modeling was applied to infer the administered dose. The results of this analytical review suggest that (i) inference from postmortem blood concentrations to the morphine dose administered has low validity and (ii) causality between a patient's death and the morphine dose administered remains a highly context-dependent and collaborative assessment among experts from different medical specialties.

PMID:36423714 | DOI:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2022.108312

Categories: Literature Watch

Allelic Variants of HLA-C Upstream Region, <em>PSORS1C3</em>, <em>MICA</em>, <em>TNFA</em> and Genes Involved in Epidermal Homeostasis and Barrier Function Influence the Clinical Response to Anti-IL-12/IL-23 Treatment of Patients with Psoriasis

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Nov 21;10(11):1977. doi: 10.3390/vaccines10111977.

ABSTRACT

Several biologic therapies have been developed to treat moderate-to-severe psoriasis, with patients exhibiting different clinical benefits, possibly due to the heterogeneity of pathogenic processes underlying their conditions. Ustekinumab targets the IL-12/IL-23-p40 subunit and inhibits type-1 and type-17 T-cell responses. Although ustekinumab is effective as both short- and long-term treatment, therapeutic response varies considerably among patients. Ustekinumab biosimilars will be commercialized in the very next future, likely broadening the use of this drug in the treatment of psoriasis patients. Our pharmacogenomic study evaluated the influence of 417 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in psoriasis-risk alleles on the clinical response to ustekinumab in a cohort of 152 patients affected by moderate-to-severe plaque-type psoriasis. Differences in SNP pattern characterizing HLA-Cw6+ or HLA-Cw6- patients, showing high or low responses to ustekinumab, were also analysed. We identified twelve SNPs in HLA-C upstream region (rs12189871, rs4406273, rs9348862 and rs9368670), PSORS1C3 (rs1265181), MICA (rs2523497), LCE3A-B intergenic region (rs12030223, rs6701730), CDSN (rs1042127, rs4713436), CCHCR1 (rs2073719) and in TNFA (rs1800610) genes associated with excellent response to ustekinumab. We also found that HLA-Cw6+ and HLA-Cw6- patients carried out distinct patterns of SNPs associated with different clinical responses. The assessment of HLA-C alleles, together with other genetic variants, could be helpful for defining patients who better benefit from anti-IL-12/IL-23 therapy.

PMID:36423071 | DOI:10.3390/vaccines10111977

Categories: Literature Watch

Workforce Considerations When Building a Precision Medicine Program

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

J Pers Med. 2022 Nov 19;12(11):1929. doi: 10.3390/jpm12111929.

ABSTRACT

This paper describes one healthcare system's approach to strategically deploying genetic specialists and pharmacists to support the implementation of a precision medicine program. In 2013, Sanford Health initiated the development of a healthcare system-wide precision medicine program. Here, we report the necessary staffing including the genetic counselors, genetic counseling assistants, pharmacists, and geneticists. We examined the administrative and electronic medical records data to summarize genetic referrals over time as well as the uptake and results of an enterprise-wide genetic screening test. Between 2013 and 2020, the number of genetic specialists employed at Sanford Health increased by 190%, from 10.1 full-time equivalents (FTEs) to 29.3 FTEs. Over the same period, referrals from multiple provider types to genetic services increased by 423%, from 1438 referrals to 7517 referrals. Between 2018 and 2020, 11,771 patients received a genetic screening, with 4% identified with potential monogenic medically actionable predisposition (MAP) findings and 95% identified with at least one informative pharmacogenetic result. Of the MAP-positive patients, 85% had completed a session with a genetics provider. A strategic workforce staffing and deployment allowed Sanford Health to manage a new genetic screening program, which prompted a large increase in genetic referrals. This approach can be used as a template for other healthcare systems interested in the development of a precision medicine program.

PMID:36422106 | DOI:10.3390/jpm12111929

Categories: Literature Watch

Pharmacogenomics of Cancer Pain Treatment Outcomes in Asian Populations: A Review

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

J Pers Med. 2022 Nov 18;12(11):1927. doi: 10.3390/jpm12111927.

ABSTRACT

In advanced cancer, pain is a poor prognostic factor, significantly impacting patients' quality of life. It has been shown that up to 30% of cancer patients in Southeast Asian countries may receive inadequate analgesia from opioid therapy. This significant under-management of cancer pain is largely due to the inter-individual variability in opioid dosage and relative efficacy of available opioids, leading to unpredictable clinical responses to opioid treatment. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) cause the variability in opioid treatment outcomes, yet their association in Asian populations remains unclear. Therefore, this review aimed to evaluate the association of SNPs with variability in opioid treatment responses in Asian populations. A literature search was conducted in Medline and Embase databases and included primary studies investigating the association of SNPs in opioid treatment outcomes, namely pharmacokinetics, opioid dose requirements, and pain control among Asian cancer patients. The results show that CYP2D6*10 has the most clinical relevance in tramadol treatment. Other SNPs such as rs7439366 (UGT2B7), rs1641025 (ABAT) and rs1718125 (P2RX7) though significant have limited pharmacogenetic implications due to insufficient evidence. OPRM1 rs1799971, COMT rs4680 and ABCB1 (rs1045642, rs1128503, and rs2032582) need to be further explored in future for relevance in Asian populations.

PMID:36422103 | DOI:10.3390/jpm12111927

Categories: Literature Watch

Asthma exacerbations: the genes behind the scenes

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

J Investig Allergol Clin Immunol. 2022 Nov 24:0. doi: 10.18176/jiaci.0878. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The clinical and socioeconomic burden of asthma exacerbations (AEs) represents a major public health problem. In the last four years, there has been an increase in ethnic diversity in candidate-gene and genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of AEs, which in the latter case has led to the identification of novel genes and underlying pathobiological processes. Pharmacogenomics, admixture mapping analyses, and the combination of multiple "omic" layers have contributed to prioritizing genomic regions of interest and/or understanding the functional consequences of genetic variation. Despite this, the field still lags behind the genomics of asthma, where a vast compendium of genetic approaches has been used (e.g., gene-environment interactions, next-generation sequencing, or polygenic risk scores). Furthermore, the roles of the DNA methylome and histone modifications in AEs have been scarcely investigated, and microRNA findings remain to be validated in independent studies. Likewise, the most recent transcriptomic studies highlight the importance of host-airway microbiome interaction in the modulation of AEs risk. Leveraging -omics and deep-phenotyping data from sub-types or homogenous subgroups of patients will be crucial to overcome the inherent heterogeneity of AEs, and boost the identification of potential therapeutic targets and the implementation of precision medicine in clinical practice for AEs.

PMID:36420738 | DOI:10.18176/jiaci.0878

Categories: Literature Watch

lncRNA <em>MALAT1</em> regulates the resistance of breast cancer cells to paclitaxel via the miR-497-5p/<em>SHOC2</em> axis

Thu, 2022-11-24 06:00

Pharmacogenomics. 2022 Nov 24. doi: 10.2217/pgs-2022-0077. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Aim: To explore the roles of lncRNA MALAT1 and SHOC2 in breast cancer, and the potential connections to chemotherapy resistance in breast cancer. Materials & methods: Paclitaxel-resistant breast cancer cells were induced by gradually increasing intermittent doses. Bioinformatic analyses were performed to predict the regulated miRNAs of MALAT1. Results: High expressions of MALAT1 and SHOC2 contribute to paclitaxel resistance in breast cancer cells. MALAT1 sponges miR-497-5p enhance SHOC2 expression in paclitaxel-resistant breast cancer cells and contribute to paclitaxel resistance in breast cancer cells. Conclusion: Patients with high expression of MALAT1 and SHOC2 have a poorer response to paclitaxel. Upregulation of miR-497-5p could improve the treatment response to paclitaxel in patients with breast cancer by inhibiting MALAT1 and SHOC2.

PMID:36420706 | DOI:10.2217/pgs-2022-0077

Categories: Literature Watch

Improving prescribing: a feasibility study of pharmacogenetic testing with clinical decision support in primary healthcare in Singapore

Wed, 2022-11-23 06:00

Fam Pract. 2022 Nov 23:cmac124. doi: 10.1093/fampra/cmac124. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The study of genetic variation as a factor influencing drug safety, efficacy, and effectiveness has brought about significant breakthroughs in understanding the clinical application of gene-drug interactions to better manage drug therapy.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to assess the feasibility of collecting buccal samples by general practitioners (GPs) at private practices in Singapore within a usual consultation, incorporating use of a pharmacogenetics-based medical decision support system to guide subsequent drug dosing.

METHODS: We used a prospective cohort study design, with GPs recruiting 189 patients between October 2020 and March 2021. The genotypes of 51 biallelic SNPs were determined using Illumina Infinium Global Screening Array.

RESULTS: Seven GPs from 6 private practices recruited and obtained buccal samples from a total of 189 patients. All patients had at least one actionable variant. The prevalence of patients having 2, 3, or 4 variants was 37.0%, 32.8%, and 12.7%, respectively. Potential alterations to medications were identified using the Clinical Decision Support System. Patients were accepting and the GPs were enthusiastic about the potential of pharmacogenetics to personalize medicine for their patients.

CONCLUSION: This is the first study in Singapore to demonstrate the feasibility of pharmacogenetic testing in primary care. The high prevalence of genetic variants underscores the potential use of pharmacogenetics in this setting.

PMID:36417351 | DOI:10.1093/fampra/cmac124

Categories: Literature Watch

In Memoriam

Wed, 2022-11-23 06:00

J Clin Pharmacol. 2022 Nov 23. doi: 10.1002/jcph.2182. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:36416835 | DOI:10.1002/jcph.2182

Categories: Literature Watch

Current pharmacogenomic recommendations in chronic respiratory diseases: Is there a biomarker ready for clinical implementation?

Wed, 2022-11-23 06:00

Expert Rev Respir Med. 2022 Nov 23:1-8. doi: 10.1080/17476348.2022.2149496. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

INTRODUCTION: The study of genetic variants in response to different drugs has predominated in fields of medicine such as oncology and infectious diseases. In chronic respiratory diseases, the available pharmacogenomic information is scarce but not less relevant.

AREAS COVERED: We searched the pharmacogenomic recommendations for respiratory diseases in the Table of Pharmacogenomic Biomarkers in Drug Labeling (U.S. Food and Drug Administration), the Clinical Pharmacogenomics Implementation Consortium (CPIC), and PharmGKB. The main pharmacogenomics recommendation in this field is to assess CFTR variants for using ivacaftor and its combination. The drugs' labels for arformoterol, indacaterol, and umeclidinium indicate a lack of influence of genetic variants in the pharmacokinetics of these drugs. Further studies should evaluate the contribution of CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 variants for formoterol. In addition, there are reports of potential pharmacogenetic variants in the treatment with acetylcysteine (TOLLIP rs3750920) and captopril (ACE rs1799752). The genetic variations for warfarin also are presented in PharmGKB and CPIC for patients with pulmonary hypertension.

EXPERT OPINION: The pharmacogenomics recommendations for lung diseases are limited. The clinical implementation of pharmacogenomics in treating respiratory diseases will contribute to the quality of life of patients with chronic respiratory diseases.

PMID:36416606 | DOI:10.1080/17476348.2022.2149496

Categories: Literature Watch

Pharmacogenomics of lipid-lowering agents: the impact on efficacy and safety

Wed, 2022-11-23 06:00

Per Med. 2022 Nov 23. doi: 10.2217/pme-2022-0041. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Hyperlipidemia is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality. The lipid-lowering drugs are considered the cornerstone of primary and secondary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Unfortunately, the lack of efficacy and associated adverse effects, ranging from mild-to-moderate to potentially life-threatening, lead to therapy discontinuation. Numerous reports support the role of gene polymorphisms in drugs' pharmacokinetic parameters and their associated adverse reactions. Therefore, this study aims to understand the pharmacogenomics of lipid-lowering drugs and the impact of genetic variants of key genes on the drugs' efficacy and toxicity. Indeed, genetically guided lipid-lowering therapy enhances overall safety, improves drug adherence and achieves long-term therapy.

PMID:36416179 | DOI:10.2217/pme-2022-0041

Categories: Literature Watch

Development of Competency-based Online Genomic Medicine Training (COGENT)

Wed, 2022-11-23 06:00

Per Med. 2022 Nov 23. doi: 10.2217/pme-2022-0101. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The fields of genetics and genomics have greatly expanded across medicine through the development of new technologies that have revealed genetic contributions to a wide array of traits and diseases. Thus, the development of widely available educational resources for all healthcare providers is essential to ensure the timely and appropriate utilization of genetics and genomics patient care. In 2020, the National Human Genome Research Institute released a call for new proposals to develop accessible, sustainable online education for health providers. This paper describes the efforts of the six teams awarded to reach the goal of providing genetic and genomic training modules that are broadly available for busy clinicians.

PMID:36416152 | DOI:10.2217/pme-2022-0101

Categories: Literature Watch

Functional characterization of 12 dihydropyrimidinase allelic variants in Japanese individuals for the prediction of 5-fluorouracil treatment-related toxicity

Tue, 2022-11-22 06:00

Drug Metab Dispos. 2022 Nov 22:DMD-AR-2022-001045. doi: 10.1124/dmd.122.001045. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

The drug 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is the first-choice chemotherapeutic agent against advanced-stage cancers. However, 10-30% of treated patients experience grade 3-4 toxicity. The deficiency of dihydropyrimidinase (DHPase), which catalyzes the second step of the 5-FU degradation pathway, is correlated with the risk of developing toxicity. Thus, genetic polymorphisms within DPYS, the DHPase-encoding gene, could potentially serve as predictors of severe 5-FU-related toxicity. We identified 12 novel DPYS variants in 3,554 Japanese individuals, but the effects of these mutations on function remain unknown. In the current study, we performed in vitro enzymatic analyses of the 12 newly identified DHPase variants. Dihydrouracil or dihydro-5-FU hydrolytic ring-opening kinetic parameters, Km and Vmax , and intrinsic clearance (CLint = Vmax /Km ) of the wild-type DHPase and eight variants were measured. Five of these variants (R118Q, H295R, T418I, Y448H, and T513A) showed significantly reduced CLint compared with that in the wild-type. The parameters for the remaining four variants (V59F, D81H, T136M, and R490H) could not be determined as dihydrouracil and dihydro-5-FU hydrolytic ring-opening activity was undetectable. We also determined DHPase variant protein stability using cycloheximide and bortezomib. The mechanism underlying the observed changes in the kinetic parameters was clarified using blue-native polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and three-dimensional structural modeling. The results suggested that the decrease or loss of DHPase enzymatic activity was due to reduced stability and oligomerization of DHPase variant proteins. Our findings support the use of DPYS polymorphisms as novel pharmacogenomic markers for predicting severe 5-FU-related toxicity in the Japanese population. Significance Statement DHPase contributes to the degradation of 5-fluorouracil, and genetic polymorphisms that cause decreased activity of DHPase can cause severe toxicity. In this study, we performed functional analysis of 12 DHPase variants in the Japanese population and identified 9 genetic polymorphisms that cause reduced DHPase function. In addition, we found that the ability to oligomerize and the conformation of the active site are important for the enzymatic activity of DHPase.

PMID:36414408 | DOI:10.1124/dmd.122.001045

Categories: Literature Watch

Pharmacogenomic Profiling of Pediatric Patients on Psychotropic Medications in an Emergency Department

Tue, 2022-11-22 06:00

Pediatr Emerg Care. 2022 Nov 23. doi: 10.1097/PEC.0000000000002871. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the ability of a combinatorial pharmacogenomic test to predict medication blood levels and relative clinical improvements in a selected pediatric population.

METHODS: This study enrolled patients between ages 3 to 18 years who presented to a pediatric emergency department with acute psychiatric, behavioral, or mental health crisis and/or concerns, and had previously been prescribed psychotropic medications. Patients received combinatorial pharmacogenomic testing with medications categorized according to gene-drug interactions (GDIs); medications with a GDI were considered "incongruent," and medications without a GDI were considered "congruent." Blood levels for escitalopram, fluoxetine, aripiprazole, and clonidine were evaluated according to level of GDI. Relative clinical improvements in response to the prescribed psychotropic medications were measured using a parent-rated Clinical Global Impression of Improvement (CGI-I) assessment, where lower scores corresponded with greater improvement.

RESULTS: Of the 100 patients enrolled, 73% reported taking ≥1 incongruent medication. There was no significant difference in CGI-I scores between patients prescribed congruent versus incongruent medications (3.37 vs 3.68, P = 0.343). Among patients who presented for depression or suicidal ideation, those prescribed congruent medications had significantly lower CGI-I scores compared with those taking incongruent medications (P = 0.036 for depression, P = 0.018 for suicidal ideation). There was a significant association between medication GDI and blood levels for aripiprazole (n = 15, P = 0.01) and escitalopram (n = 10, P = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Our preliminary findings suggest that combinatorial pharmacogenomic testing can predict medication blood levels and relative outcomes based on medication congruency in children presenting to an emergency department with acute psychiatric/behavioral crises. Additional studies will be needed to confirm these findings.

PMID:36413430 | DOI:10.1097/PEC.0000000000002871

Categories: Literature Watch

Pages