Novel Protective Role of Nicotinamide Phosphoribosyltransferase in Acetaminophen-Induced Acute Liver Injury in Mice.

Acetaminophen overdose is the most common cause of acute liver injury (ALI) or acute liver failure in the United States. Its pathogenetic mechanisms are incompletely understood. Additional studies are warranted to identify new genetic risk factors for more mechanistic insights and new therapeutic target discoveries.

Cytokine Biomarkers of Disease Activity and Therapeutic Response after Initiating Methotrexate Therapy in Patients with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis.

Study Objective: To evaluate the relationship between plasma cytokine levels with disease activity and therapeutic response in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) after initiating methotrexate (MTX) therapy.

Design: Single-center observational prospective cohort study.

Setting: Outpatient pediatric rheumatology clinic at a tertiary care academic pediatric hospital.

Metabolic and molecular insights into an essential role of nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase.

Nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase (NAMPT) is a pleiotropic protein implicated in the pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome, aging, cancer, coronary heart diseases, diabetes, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, and sepsis. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms of NAMPT in these physiological and pathological processes are not fully understood. Here, we provide experimental evidence that a Nampt gene homozygous knockout (Nampt) resulted in lethality at an early stage of mouse embryonic development and death within 5-10 days in adult mice accompanied by a 25.

Pharmacogenetic allele nomenclature: International workgroup recommendations for test result reporting.

This article provides nomenclature recommendations developed by an international workgroup to increase transparency and standardization of pharmacogenetic (PGx) result reporting. Presently, sequence variants identified by PGx tests are described using different nomenclature systems. In addition, PGx analysis may detect different sets of variants for each gene, which can affect interpretation of results.

Pharmacokinetic Studies in Neonates: The Utility of an Opportunistic Sampling Design.

Background And Objective: The use of an opportunistic (also called scavenged) sampling strategy in a prospective pharmacokinetic study combined with population pharmacokinetic modelling has been proposed as an alternative strategy to conventional methods for accomplishing pharmacokinetic studies in neonates. However, the reliability of this approach in this particular paediatric population has not been evaluated. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of an opportunistic sampling strategy for a population pharmacokinetic estimation, as well as dose prediction, and compare this strategy with a predetermined pharmacokinetic sampling approach.

Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) Guidelines for CYP3A5 Genotype and Tacrolimus Dosing.

Tacrolimus is the mainstay immunosuppressant drug used after solid organ and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Individuals who express CYP3A5 (extensive and intermediate metabolizers) generally have decreased dose-adjusted trough concentrations of tacrolimus as compared with those who are CYP3A5 nonexpressers (poor metabolizers), possibly delaying achievement of target blood concentrations. We summarize evidence from the published literature supporting this association and provide dosing recommendations for tacrolimus based on CYP3A5 genotype when known (updates at www.

Evaluating the Effectiveness of an Illustrated Permission/Assent Form.

Issues of language and literacy represent a significant barrier to participation in clinical research. This study was designed to explore whether illustrating the permission/assent (P/A) document offers an alternative strategy for communicating study related information to underserved populations. Participants were verbally introduced to a mock study and asked to review the corresponding P/A form with companion pictorials.

Population pharmacokinetics of ciprofloxacin in neonates and young infants less than three months of age.

Ciprofloxacin is used in neonates with suspected or documented Gram-negative serious infections. Currently, its use is off-label partly because of lack of pharmacokinetic studies. Within the FP7 EU project TINN (Treat Infection in NeoNates), our aim was to evaluate the population pharmacokinetics of ciprofloxacin in neonates and young infants <3 months of age and define the appropriate dose in order to optimize ciprofloxacin treatment in this vulnerable population.

Ontogeny of human hepatic and intestinal transporter gene expression during childhood: age matters.

Many drugs prescribed to children are drug transporter substrates. Drug transporters are membrane-bound proteins that mediate the cellular uptake or efflux of drugs and are important to drug absorption and elimination. Very limited data are available on the effect of age on transporter expression.

Population pharmacokinetics of oral baclofen in pediatric patients with cerebral palsy.

Objective: To characterize the population pharmacokinetics (PK) of oral baclofen and assess impact of patient-specific covariates in children with cerebral palsy (CP) in order to support its clinical use.

Subjects Design: Children (2-17 years of age) with CP received a dose of titrated oral baclofen from 2.5 mg 3 times a day to a maximum tolerated dose of up to 20 mg 4 times a day.

Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium guidelines for cytochrome P450 2D6 genotype and codeine therapy: 2014 update.

Codeine is bioactivated to morphine, a strong opioid agonist, by the hepatic cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6); hence, the efficacy and safety of codeine are governed by CYP2D6 activity. Polymorphisms are a major cause of CYP2D6 variability. We summarize evidence from the literature supporting this association and provide therapeutic recommendations for codeine based on CYP2D6 genotype.

Urinary biomarkers of trimethoprim bioactivation in vivo following therapeutic dosing in children.

The antimicrobial trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) is widely used for the treatment of skin and soft-tissue infections in the outpatient setting. Despite its therapeutic benefits, TMP-SMX has been associated with a number of adverse drug reactions, which have been primarily attributed to the formation of reactive metabolites from SMX. Recently, in vitro experiments have demonstrated that TMP may form reactive intermediates as well.

Epigenetic regulation of ADME-related genes: focus on drug metabolism and transport.

Epigenetic regulation of gene expression refers to heritable factors that are functionally relevant genomic modifications but that do not involve changes in DNA sequence. Examples of such modifications include DNA methylation, histone modifications, noncoding RNAs, and chromatin architecture. Epigenetic modifications are crucial for packaging and interpreting the genome, and they have fundamental functions in regulating gene expression and activity under the influence of physiologic and environmental factors.

Low-dose methotrexate results in the selective accumulation of aminoimidazole carboxamide ribotide in an erythroblastoid cell line.

Therapeutic and toxic response to low-dose methotrexate (MTX) in the treatment of autoimmune disease continues to be highly variable, resulting in a critical need to identify predictive biomarkers of response. Biomarker development has been hampered by an incomplete understanding of the molecular pharmacology of low-dose MTX. To address this issue, accumulation of the substrates for aminoimidazole carboxamide ribonucleotide transformylase (AICART) and thymidylate synthase (TS) was measured as markers of pharmacological activity of MTX in an erythroblastoid cell line.

Cotinine in human placenta predicts induction of gene expression in fetal tissues.

Maternal cigarette smoking during pregnancy is associated with increased risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality. However, the mechanisms underlying adverse birth outcomes following prenatal exposure to cigarette smoke remain unknown due, in part, to the absence or unreliability of information regarding maternal cigarette smoke exposure during pregnancy. Our goal was to determine if placental cotinine could be a reliable biomarker of fetal cigarette smoke exposure during pregnancy.