A case of simvastatin-induced myopathy with SLCO1B1 genetic predisposition and co-ingestion of linagliptin and Stevia rebaudiana

Large-scale next generation sequencing based analysis of SLCO1B1 pharmacogenetics variants in the Saudi population

BACKGROUND

SLCO1B1 plays an important role in mediating hepatic clearance of many different drugs including statins, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, chemotherapeutic agents and antibiotics. Several variants in SLCO1B1 have been shown to have a clinically significant impact, in relation to efficacy of these medications. This study provides a comprehensive overview of SLCO1B1 variation in Saudi individuals, one of the largest Arab populations in the Middle East.

METHODS

The dataset of 11,889 (9,961 exomes and 1,928 pharmacogenetic gene panel) Saudi nationals, was used to determine the presence and frequencies of SLCO1B1 variants, as described by the Clinical Pharmacogenetic Implementation Consortium (CPIC).

RESULTS

We identified 141 previously described SNPs, of which rs2306283 (50%) and rs4149056 (28%), were the most common. In addition, we observed six alleles [*15 (24.7%) followed by *20 (8.04%), *14 (5.86%), *5 (3.84%), *31 (0.21%) and *9 (0.03%)] predicted to be clinically actionable. Allele diplotype to phenotype conversion revealed 41 OATP1B1 diplotypes. We estimated the burden of rare, and novel predicted deleterious variants, resulting from 17 such alterations.

CONCLUSIONS

The data we present, from one of the largest Arab cohorts studied to date, provides the most comprehensive overview of SLCO1B1 variants, and the subsequent OATP1B1 activity of this ethnic group, which thus far remains relatively underrepresented in available international genomic databases. We believe that the presented data provides a basis for further clinical investigations and the application of personalized statin drug therapy guidance in Arabs.

HDI Highlighter, The First Intelligent Tool to Screen the Literature on Herb-Drug Interactions

Herbal food supplements are commonly used and can be an important part of patient self-care. Like all other bio-active and therapeutic products, they have a benefit/risk balance. These products are not without adverse effects and potentially interact with other therapies. Educating patients and providing information for health professionals about the risk of herb-drug interactions is key. One of the purposes of the biomedical literature is to inform prescribers. Scientific literature accessible on databases such as PubMed is dense and careful reading is time consuming. We propose a reading aid tool named "HDI highlighter" to help readers to find key information in clinical studies and case reports describing herb-drug interactions. It uses natural language processing algorithms (artificial intelligence) with a pharmaceutical focus. Semantic relation extraction for herb-drug interactions from the biomedical literature are overexpressed using keywords. We have tested it to review 120 published articles over the last 10 years. In these articles, we have shown that case reports often involved long-term or semi-long-term treatments such as cancer or human immunodeficiency virus therapies, antiepileptic drugs, or central nervous system drugs. Similarly, these classes of drugs are more extensively targeted by clinical studies. Herb-drug interactions described in case reports are identified in medicinal, recreational, and alimentary uses. They also usually lack a rigorous description of the herb(s) involved. Typically, clinical studies provide a complete description of protocols and dosages, with a few exceptions explained by patients' needs. Clinical studies on herbs are nevertheless conducted on a limited number of patients. All these limitations make the interpretation of herb-drug interactions complicated, but the HDI highlighter provides a quick overview of the herb-drug interaction literature.

Causes and outcome of rhabdomyolysis in patients admitted to medical wards in the Prince of Wales Hospital

Background

Rhabdomyolysis with a marked elevation of serum creatine kinase (CK) can be caused by various conditions. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a potential complication of severe rhabdomyolysis and leads to a rapid increase in serum creatinine.

Methods

This study was performed to identify medical cases diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis and to examine the likely causes. Patients diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis during admission to the medical wards of Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) in Hong Kong from January 1, 2004 to May 31, 2012 were identified by searching computer records. Details of hospital admissions were retrieved, and the underlying causes of the rhabdomyolysis and clinical outcomes were analyzed.

Results

There were 95 Chinese patients with a median age of 72 years (range, 22–92 years) assigned a diagnosis of rhabdomyolysis. A mild degree of AKI was defined as an increase of serum creatinine more than 20% above the baseline value before onset of acute illness and with the highest creatinine greater than 120 µmol/L. Mild AKI was identified in 63 patients. Rhabdomyolysis appeared to contribute to a fatal outcome in eight patients who had multiple preexisting morbidities. The maximum CK had a median value of 9,829 U/L (range, 472–258,100 U/L). Twelve patients with peak CK levels <10× the upper limit of normal (ULN) may not have had rhabdomyolysis by this standard definition. Of the remaining 83 patients with maximum CK values >10× the ULN, the most common contributing factors were trauma (n=19) and infection (n=17). Other common underlying causes included drug abuse (heroin and alcohol) and ischemia/immobility.

Conclusions

Most patients recovered with appropriate medical interventions and had a median hospital stay of 13 days. One patient was thought to have drug-related rhabdomyolysis due to taking bezafibrate during an episode of renal impairment.

Herb-Drug Interactions: Worlds Intersect with the Patient at the Center

This review examines three bodies of literature related to herb-drug interactions: case reports, clinical studies, evaluations found in six drug interaction checking resources. The aim of the study is to examine the congruity of resources and to assess the degree to which case reports signal for further study. A qualitative review of case reports seeks to determine needs and perspectives of case report authors. Methods: Systematic search of Medline identified clinical studies and case reports of interacting herb-drug combinations. Interacting herb-drug pairs were searched in six drug interaction resources. Case reports were analyzed qualitatively for completeness and to identify underlying themes. Results: Ninety-nine case-report documents detailed 107 cases. Sixty-five clinical studies evaluated 93 mechanisms of interaction relevant to herbs reported in case studies, involving 30 different herbal products; 52.7% of these investigations offered evidence supporting reported reactions. Cohen's kappa found no agreement between any interaction checker and case report corpus. Case reports often lacked full information. Need for further information, attitudes about herbs and herb use, and strategies to reduce risk from interaction were three primary themes in the case report corpus. Conclusions: Reliable herb-drug information is needed, including open and respectful discussion with patients.