Pharmacogenomics: Driving Personalized Medicine.

Personalized medicine tailors therapies, disease prevention, and health maintenance to the individual, with pharmacogenomics serving as a key tool to improve outcomes and prevent adverse effects. Advances in genomics have transformed pharmacogenetics, traditionally focused on single gene-drug pairs, into pharmacogenomics, encompassing all "-omics" fields (e.g., proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and metagenomics). This review summarizes basic genomics principles relevant to translation into therapies, assessing pharmacogenomics' central role in converging diverse elements of personalized medicine. We discuss genetic variations in pharmacogenes (drug-metabolizing enzymes, drug transporters, and receptors), their clinical relevance as biomarkers, and the legacy of decades of research in pharmacogenetics. All types of therapies, including proteins, nucleic acids, viruses, cells, genes, and irradiation, can benefit from genomics, expanding the role of pharmacogenomics across medicine. Food and Drug Administration approvals of personalized therapeutics involving biomarkers increase rapidly, demonstrating the growing impact of pharmacogenomics. A beacon for all therapeutic approaches, molecularly targeted cancer therapies highlight trends in drug discovery and clinical applications. To account for human complexity, multicomponent biomarker panels encompassing genetic, personal, and environmental factors can guide diagnosis and therapies, increasingly involving artificial intelligence to cope with extreme data complexities. However, clinical application encounters substantial hurdles, such as unknown validity across ethnic groups, underlying bias in health care, and real-world validation. This review address the underlying science and technologies germane to pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine, integrated with economic, ethical, and regulatory issues, providing insights into the current status and future direction of health care. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Personalized medicine aims to optimize health care for the individual patients with use of predictive biomarkers to improve outcomes and prevent adverse effects. Pharmacogenomics drives biomarker discovery and guides the development of targeted therapeutics. This review addresses basic principles and current trends in pharmacogenomics, with large-scale data repositories accelerating medical advances. The impact of pharmacogenomics is discussed, along with hurdles impeding broad clinical implementation, in the context of clinical care, ethics, economics, and regulatory affairs.

Isoform-level expression of the constitutive androstane receptor (CAR or NR1I3) transcription factor better predicts the mRNA expression of the cytochrome P450s in human liver samples.

Many factors cause inter-person variability in the activity and expression of liver cytochrome P450 (CYP) drug-metabolizing enzymes, leading to variable drug exposure and treatment outcomes. Several liver-enriched transcription factors (TFs) are associated with CYP expression, with estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR or NR1I3) being the two top factors. ESR1 and NR1I3 undergo extensive alternative splicing that results in numerous splice isoforms, but how these splice isoforms associate with CYP expression is unknown. Here, we quantified 18 NR1I3 splice isoforms and the three most abundant ESR1 isoforms in 260 liver samples derived from African Americans (AA, n=125) and European Americans (EA, n=135). Our results showed variable splice isoform populations in the liver for both NR1I3 and ESR1. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed that, compared to gene-level NR1I3, isoform-level NR1I3 expression better predicted the mRNA expression of most CYPs and three UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs), while ESR1 isoforms improved predictive models for the UGTs and CYP2D6, but not for most CYPs. Also, different NR1I3 isoforms were associated with different CYPs, and the associations varied depending on sample ancestry. Surprisingly, non-canonical NR1I3 isoforms having retained introns (introns 2 or 6) were abundantly expressed and associated with the expression of most CYPs and UGTs, whereas the reference isoform (NR1I3-205) only associated with CYP2D6. Moreover, NR1I3 isoform diversity increased during the differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells to hepatocytes, paralleling increasing CYP expression. These results suggest that isoform-level TF expression may help to explain variation in CYP or UGT expression between individuals. Significance Statement We quantified 18 NR1I3 splice isoforms and three ESR1 splice isoforms in 260 liver samples derived from AA and EA donors and found variable NR1I3 and ESR1 splice isoform expression in the liver. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that, compared to gene-level expression, isoform-level expression of NR1I3 and ESR1 better predicted the mRNA expression of some CYPs and UGTs, highlighting the importance of isoform-level analyses to enhance our understanding of gene transcriptional regulatory networks controlling the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes.

Differential Expression of Circulating miRNAs and Carfilzomib-Related Cardiovascular Adverse Events in Patients with Multiple Myeloma.

This study investigates the association between circulating microRNA (miRNA) expression and cardiovascular adverse events (CVAE) in multiple myeloma (MM) patients treated with a carfilzomib (CFZ)-based regimen. A cohort of 60 MM patients from the Prospective Observation of Cardiac Safety with Proteasome Inhibitor (PROTECT) study was analyzed. Among these, 31 patients (51.6%) developed CVAE post-CFZ treatment. The Taqman OpenArray Human microRNA panels were used for miRNA profiling. We identified 13 differentially expressed miRNAs at baseline, with higher expressions of miR-125a-5p, miR-15a-5p, miR-18a-3p, and miR-152-3p and lower expression of miR-140-3p in patients who later developed CVAE compared to those free of CVAE, adjusting for age, gender, race, and higher B-type natriuretic peptide levels. We also identified three miRNAs, including miR-150-5p, that were differentially expressed in patients with and without CVAE post-treatment. Additionally, five miRNAs responded differently to CFZ treatment in CVAE vs. non-CVAE patients, including significantly elevated post-treatment expression of miR-140-3p and lower expressions of miR-598, miR-152, miR-21, and miR-323a in CVAE patients. Pathway enrichment analysis highlighted the involvement of these miRNAs in cardiovascular diseases and vascular processes. These findings suggest that specific miRNAs could serve as predictive biomarkers for CVAE and provide insights into the underlying mechanisms of CFZ-CVAE. Further investigation is warranted before these findings can be applied in clinical settings.

A Comprehensive Evaluation of the Effects of RNA-Editing Proteins ADAR and ADARB1 on the Expression of the Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes in HepaRG Cells.

Two RNA-editing proteins, the adenosine deaminase acting on RNA, ADAR, and ADARB1, broadly regulate gene expression in editing-dependent and editing-independent manners. Previous studies showed that the expression of the drug-metabolizing cytochrome P450s (P450s) and UDP glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) changes upon knockdown (KD) of ADAR or ADARB1 in different hepatic cell lines. To systematically survey the effects of these two ADARs on the expression of P450s and UGTs, we used small interfering RNA in HepaRG cells and tested the association between the expression of the P450s and ADARs in a liver sample cohort (n = 246). KD of ADAR increased the expression of the CYP3As and CYP2C9 and reduced the expression of the others, whereas KD of ADARB1 reduced the expression of nearly all genes tested. ADAR KD also suppressed the induction of most P450s, whereas ADARB1 KD had mixed effects depending on the inducer/gene combination. P450 expression was positively associated with both ADARs in liver samples, consistent with the KD results. However, after adjusting for the expression of transcription factors (TFs) known to regulate P450 expression, the associations disappeared, indicating that the effects of ADAR or ADARB1 primarily occur through TFs. Moreover, we found that the expression of normally spliced CYP3A5 transcripts is increased in both KDs, indicating a direct effect of the ADARs on promoting the usage of the cryptic splice site generated by CYP3A5*3. Taken together, our results revealed the nonoverlapping regulatory effects of ADAR and ADARB1 and supported their broad roles in controlling the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes in the liver. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Here, this study systematically surveyed the roles of ADAR and ADARB1 in both basal and induced expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes and assessed their coexpression in liver samples. This study's results support that ADAR and ADARB1 regulate the expression of the drug-metabolizing enzymes in the liver, suggesting that factors affecting ADAR expression also have the potential to impact drug metabolism.

Regulation of CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 by a lncRNA: a potential underlying mechanism explaining the association between CYP3A4*1G and CYP3A metabolism.

The cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4) enzyme is the most abundant drug-metabolizing enzyme in the liver, displaying large inter-person variability with unknown causes. In this study, we found that the expression of CYP3A4 is negatively correlated with AC069294.1 (ENSG00000273407, ENST00000608397.1), a lncRNA generated antisense to CYP3A4. Knockdown of AC069294.1 in Huh7 cells increased CYP3A4 mRNA ~3-fold, whereas overexpression of AC069294.1 decreased CYP3A4 mRNA by 89%. We also observed changes in CYP3A5 expression when AC069294.1 was knocked down or overexpressed, indicating dual effects of AC069294.1 on both CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 expression. Consistently, the expression level of CYP3A5 is also negatively correlated with AC069294.1. Previous studies have shown associations between an intronic single nucleotide polymorphism CYP3A4*1G (rs2242480) and CYP3A metabolism, but the results are inconsistent and the underlying mechanism is unclear. We show here that CYP3A4*1G (rs2242480) is associated with 1.26-fold increased expression of AC069294.1 (P < 0.0001), and decreased expression of CYP3A4 by 31% (P = 0.008) and CYP3A5 by 39% (P = 0.004). CYP3A4*1G is located ~2.7 kb upstream of AC069294.1 and has been previously reported to have increased transcriptional activity in reporter gene assays. Taken together, our results demonstrate the regulation of CYP3A4 and CYP3A5 by a novel lncRNA AC069294.1. Our results also indicate that the clinically observed CYP3A4*1G associations may be caused by its effect on the expression of AC069294.1, and thereby altered expression of both CYP3A4 and CYP3A5. Furthermore, because CYP3A4*1G is in high linkage disequilibrium with CYP3A5*1, increased AC069294.1 expression caused by CYP3A4*1G may decrease expression of the normal-functioning CYP3A5*1, explaining additional inter-person variability of CYP3A5.

Transcriptional Regulation of Carboxylesterase 1 in Human Liver: Role of the Nuclear Receptor Subfamily 1 Group H Member 3 and Its Splice Isoforms.

Carboxylesterase 1 (CES1) is the predominant carboxylesterase in the human liver, involved in metabolism of both xenobiotics and endogenous substrates. Genetic or epigenetic factors that alter CES1 activity or expression are associated with changes in drug response, lipid, and glucose homeostasis. However, the transcriptional regulation of CES1 in the human liver remains uncertain. By applying both the random forest and Sobol's Sensitivity Indices (SSI) to analyze existing liver RNA expression microarray data (GSE9588), we identified nuclear receptor subfamily 1 group H member 3 (NR1H3) liver X receptor (LXR)α as a key factor regulating constitutive CES1 expression. This model prediction was validated using small interfering RNA (siRNA) knockdown and CRISPR-mediated transcriptional activation of NR1H3 in Huh7 and HepG2 cells. We found that NR1H3's activation of CES1 is splice isoform-specific, namely that increased expression of the NR1H3-211 isoform increased CES1 expression whereas NR1H3-201 did not. Also, in human liver samples, expression of NR1H3-211 and CES1 are correlated, whereas NR1H3-201 and CES1 are not. This trend also occurs during differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to hepatocytes, where only expression of the NR1H3-211 isoform parallels expression of CES1 Moreover, we found that treatment with the NR1H3 agonist T0901317 in HepG2 cells had no effect on CES1 expression. Overall, our results demonstrate a key role of NR1H3 in maintaining the constitutive expression of CES1 in the human liver. Furthermore, our results support that the effect of NR1H3 is splice isoform-specific and appears to be ligand independent. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Despite the central role of carboxylesterase 1 (CES1) in metabolism of numerous medications, little is known about its transcriptional regulation. This study identifies nuclear receptor subfamily 1 group H member 3 as a key regulator of constitutive CES1 expression and therefore is a potential target for future studies to understand interperson variabilities in CES1 activity and drug metabolism.

Association Between Social Determinants of Health and Glycemic Control Among African American People with Type 2 diabetes: The Jackson Heart Study.

BACKGROUND: Social determinants of health have a significant impact on health outcomes. However, the complexity and interaction of multiple factors influencing glycemic control remain understudied. PURPOSE: This study examined associations of socioeconomic position (income, education, and occupation), environmental (physical activity facilities, neighborhood social cohesion, neighborhood problem, and violence), behavioral (physical activity, nutrition, and smoking), and psychological factors (depressive symptoms, stress, and discrimination) with glycemic control (hemoglobin A1c [A1c]) using the World Health Organization Social Determinants of Health framework in African American adults with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: A secondary data analysis was conducted using a longitudinal cohort of 1,240 African American adults with type 2 diabetes who participated in the community-based Jackson Heart Study. Socioeconomic position, environmental, behavioral, and psychological factors were measured using validated instruments in the Jackson Heart Study. Longitudinal structural equation modeling was used with glycemic control (A1c) collected over time (Exams 1-3) as the study outcome. RESULTS: Our study presents the complex interplay of socioeconomic determinants of health and glycemic control over time. Higher socioeconomic position (higher income, higher level of education, and professional occupation) was directly associated with improvement in glycemic control over time. An association of socioeconomic position on glycemic control mediated through health behavior factors was also observed. CONCLUSIONS: In this analysis, socioeconomic position components were determinants of glycemic control in African American adults with type 2 diabetes. Future studies aimed at reducing health disparities and achieving equality of outcomes in this population will benefit from embedding socioeconomic position components into their design.

Functional CYP3A variants affecting tacrolimus trough blood concentrations in Chinese renal transplant recipients.

The aim of this study was to identify novel genetic variants affecting tacrolimus trough blood concentrations. We analyzed the association between 58 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) across the CYP3A gene cluster and the log-transformed tacrolimus concentration/dose ratio (log (C0/D)) in 819 renal transplant recipients (Discovery cohort). Multivariate linear regression was used to test for associations between tacrolimus log (C0/D) and clinical factors. Luciferase reporter gene assays were used to evaluate the functions of select SNPs. Associations of putative functional SNPs with log (C0/D) were further tested in 631 renal transplant recipients (Replication cohort). Nine SNPs were significantly associated with tacrolimus log (C0/D) after adjustment for CYP3A5*3 and clinical factors. Dual luciferase reporter assays indicated that the rs4646450 G allele and rs3823812 T allele were significantly associated with increased normalized luciferase activity ratios (p < 0.01). Moreover, CYP3A7*2 was associated with higher TAC log(C0/D) in the group of CYP3A5 expressers. Age, serum creatinine and hematocrit were significantly associated with tacrolimus log (C0/D). CYP3A7*2, rs4646450, and rs3823812 are proposed as functional SNPs affecting tacrolimus trough blood concentrations in Chinese renal transplant recipients. Clinical factors also significantly affect tacrolimus metabolism.

ESR1 ChIP-Seq Identifies Distinct Ligand-Free ESR1 Genomic Binding Sites in Human Hepatocytes and Liver Tissue.

The estrogen receptor alpha (ESR1) is an important gene transcriptional regulator, known to mediate the effects of estrogen. Canonically, ESR1 is activated by its ligand estrogen. However, the role of unliganded ESR1 in transcriptional regulation has been gaining attention. We have recently shown that ligand-free ESR1 is a key regulator of several cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes in the liver, however ligand-free ESR1 has not been characterized genome-wide in the human liver. To address this, ESR1 ChIP-Seq was conducted in human liver samples and in hepatocytes with or without 17beta-estradiol (E2) treatment. We identified both ligand-dependent and ligand-independent binding sites throughout the genome. These two ESR1 binding categories showed different genomic localization, pathway enrichment, and cofactor colocalization, indicating different ESR1 regulatory function depending on ligand availability. By analyzing existing ESR1 data from additional human cell lines, we uncovered a potential ligand-independent ESR1 activity, namely its co-enrichment with the zinc finger protein 143 (ZNF143). Furthermore, we identified ESR1 binding sites near many gene loci related to drug therapy, including the CYPs. Overall, this study shows distinct ligand-free and ligand-bound ESR1 chromatin binding profiles in the liver and suggests the potential broad influence of ESR1 in drug metabolism and drug therapy.

Cis-acting regulatory elements regulating CYP3A4 transcription in human liver.

The CYP3A4 enzyme is the most abundant drug-metabolizing enzyme in the liver, metabolizing ~50% of commonly used medications. CYP3A4 displays large interperson variability in expression and enzyme activity with unknown causes. This study aims to identify cis-acting regulatory elements controlling the transcription of CYP3A4, using chromatin conformation capture (4C and 3C assays), chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR), clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-mediated deletions of genomic regions and reporter gene assays in primary culture human hepatocytes and hepatic cell lines. 4C assays identified four regions (R1-R4) interacting with the CYP3A4 promoter, one of which overlaps with the previously identified upstream enhancers CLEM4/XREM (R2) while the other three are novel. ChIP-qPCR, reporter gene assays and CRISPR-mediated deletion experiments indicate regulatory roles for both R2 and R4. Interestingly, the deletion of R4 increased CYP3A4 while decreasing CYP3A43 expression, possibly due to competitive domain-domain interactions within the CYP3A cluster, supported by deletion of R4 increasing interaction between the CYP3A4 promoter and R2. We also identified a single nucleotide polymorphism rs62471956 within R4, with the variant allele A having increased transcriptional activity in a reporter gene assay. The rs62471956 A allele is associated with higher CYP3A43 expression and lower CYP3A4 expression in a cohort of 136 liver samples, further supporting the opposing effects of R4 on CYP3A4 and CYP3A43. rs62471956 is in complete linkage disequilibrium with CYP3A4*22, potentially contributing to reduced expression of CYP3A4*22. These results validate previously identified enhancers (CLEM4 and XREM) of CYP3A4 and demonstrate additional regulatory mechanisms underlying CYP3A4 transcriptional control via competitive domain-domain interactions within the CYP3A cluster.

Response to the Comments on "Determining Allele-Specific Protein Expression (ASPE) Using a Novel Quantitative Concatamer Proteomics Method".

Russell and colleagues deserve credit for being the first to use a QconCAT standard to simultaneously quantify both the wild-type and mutant peptides of a protein (i.e., CYP2B6) ( J. Proteome Res. 2013, 12 (12), 5934-5942. DOI: 10.1021/pr400279u). However, the rationale of their study was entirely different from ours ( J. Proteome Res. 2018, 17 (10), 3606-3612. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.8b00620). Their study focused on the quantification of individual drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters, whereas ours developed a targeted proteomics method to determine the allele-specific protein expression (ASPE) of a gene and advocated the use of the ASPE imbalance as the phenotype for identifying cis-regulatory genetic variants of the gene. More importantly, the digestion enzyme trypsin interacts with three to four amino acid residues around scissile bonds, and certain residues, such as negatively charged amino acids, can significantly affect the digestion efficiency. The QconCAT standard reported in our study differs from conventional QconCAT standards such as that used by Russell et al. in that at least 15 native flanking amino acids were included to ensure accurate measurement of ASPE ratios.

Ligand-Free Estrogen Receptor α (ESR1) as Master Regulator for the Expression of CYP3A4 and Other Cytochrome P450 Enzymes in the Human Liver.

Cytochrome P450 3A4 isoform (CYP3A4) transcription is controlled by hepatic transcription factors (TFs), but how TFs dynamically interact remains uncertain. We hypothesize that several TFs form a regulatory network with nonlinear, dynamic, and hierarchical interactions. To resolve complex interactions, we have applied a computational approach for estimating Sobol's sensitivity indices (SSI) under generalized linear models to existing liver RNA expression microarray data (GSE9588) and RNA-seq data from genotype-tissue expression (GTEx), generating robust importance ranking of TF effects and interactions. The SSI-based analysis identified TFs and interacting TF pairs, triplets, and quadruplets involved in CYP3A4 expression. In addition to known CYP3A4 TFs, estrogen receptor α (ESR1) emerges as key TF with the strongest main effect and as the most frequently included TF interacting partner. Model predictions were validated using small interfering RNA (siRNA)/short hairpin RNA (shRNA) gene knockdown and clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-mediated transcriptional activation of ESR1 in biliary epithelial Huh7 cells and human hepatocytes in the absence of estrogen. Moreover, ESR1 and known CYP3A4 TFs mutually regulate each other. Detectable in both male and female hepatocytes without added estrogen, the results demonstrate a role for unliganded ESR1 in CYP3A4 expression consistent with unliganded ESR1 signaling reported in other cell types. Added estrogen further enhances ESR1 effects. We propose a hierarchical regulatory network for CYP3A4 expression directed by ESR1 through self-regulation, cross regulation, and TF-TF interactions. We also demonstrate that ESR1 regulates the expression of other P450 enzymes, suggesting broad influence of ESR1 on xenobiotics metabolism in human liver. Further studies are required to understand the mechanisms underlying role of ESR1 in P450 regulation. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: This study focuses on identifying key transcription factors and regulatory networks for CYP3A4, the main drug metabolizing enzymes in liver. We applied a new computational approach (Sobol's sensitivity analysis) to existing hepatic gene expression data to determine the role of transcription factors in regulating CYP3A4 expression, and used molecular genetics methods (siRNA/shRNA gene knockdown and CRISPR-mediated transcriptional activation) to test these interactions in life cells. This approach reveals a robust network of TFs, including their putative interactions and the relative impact of each interaction. We find that ESR1 serves as a key transcription factor function in regulating CYP3A4, and it appears to be acting at least in part in a ligand-free fashion.

CYP2D6 haplotypes with enhancer single-nucleotide polymorphism rs5758550 and rs16947 (*2 allele): implications for CYP2D6 genotyping panels.

INTRODUCTION: CYP2D6 metabolizes ∼25% of all clinically used drugs, with numerous genetic polymorphisms affecting enzyme activity and drug response. Clinical utility of current CYP2D6 genotyping is partially compromised the unresolved complex haplotype structure of the CYP2D6 locus. We have identified a distal enhancer single-nucleotide polymorphism rs5758550 that robustly increases CYP2D6 expression, whereas rs16947 (CYP2D6*2), previously considered inert, reduces correct mRNA splicing and expression, thereby affecting presumed activity of other alleles on the *2 haplotype. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to determine the structure and frequency of haplotypes containing either rs5758550 or rs16947, or both, together with other relevant CYP2D6 alleles, assigning predictive enzyme activity scores to each, and addressing ambiguities in estimating diplotypes in different populations. METHODS: The structure and frequency of haplotypes containing rs5758550 and/or rs16947 in different populations were determined by using phased genotype data from 'The 1000 Genomes Project'. The assigned haplotype-phenotype relationship was tested by associating assigned CYP2D6 activity score with CYP2D6 enzyme activity in a cohort of 122 human liver microsomes. RESULTS: Addition of enhancer single-nucleotide polymorphism rs5758550 and *2 to a CYP2D6 panel improves prediction of CYP2D6 activity. Moreover, the haplotype containing rs5758550 and rs16947 predict extensive CYP2D6 activity more accurately than CYP2D6*2A, a surrogate marker for extensive activity. CONCLUSION: With further studies, the results support possible incorporation of rs5758550 and rs16947 into CYP2D6 biomarker panels for more accurate prediction of CYP2D6 metabolizer status.

XRCC1-mediated DNA repair is associated with progression-free survival of multiple myeloma patients after autologous stem cell transplant.

Autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) with high-dose melphalan (HDM) is the standard treatment for fit multiple myeloma (MM) patients. It is generally believed that some DNA repair proteins impact the activity to repair melphalan-induced DNA damage, thus potentially contributing to the patient's clinical response. However, knowledge of these proteins is limited. In the current study, we investigated the roles of XRCC1, a protein involved in base excision repair and single-strand break repair, in melphalan response in MM cells. Small interfering RNA knockdown of XRCC1 significantly increased the accumulation of melphalan-induced DNA damage in MM cells and sensitized them to melphalan treatment, indicating that genetic variation in XRCC1 may impact response to melphalan treatment. We then evaluated the association between an XRCC1 variant with reduced activity, rs25487 (R399Q), and clinical outcomes of 108 MM patients with melphalan therapy. Our results showed that XRCC1 rs25487 was associated with prolonged progression-free survival (PFS) in MM patients. The adjusted hazard ratio for PFS between patients carrying rs25487 AA/AG and GG was 0.42 (95% confidence interval: 0.25, 0.84, P = .014). Taken together, these results indicate that XRCC1 is involved in the repair of melphalan-induced DNA damage and XRCC1 rs25487 variant with impaired DNA repair function influences the clinical responses of HDM in MM patients.

Association of Regulatory Genetic Variants for Protein Kinase Cα with Mortality and Drug Efficacy in Patients with Heart Failure.

PURPOSE: Protein kinase C alpha (gene: PRKCA) is a key regulator of cardiac contractility. Two genetic variants have recently been discovered to regulate PRKCA expression in failing human heart tissue (rs9909004 [T → C] and rs9303504 [C → G]). The association of those variants with clinical outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF), and their interaction with HF drug efficacy, is unknown. METHODS: Patients with HF in a prospective registry starting in 2007 were genotyped by whole genome array (n = 951). The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for established clinical risk factors and genomic ancestry tested the independent association of rs9909004 or rs9303504 and the variant interactions with cornerstone HF pharmacotherapies (beta-blockers or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers) in additive genetic models. RESULTS: The minor allele of rs9909004, but not of rs9303504, was independently associated with a decreased risk for all-cause mortality: adjusted HR = 0.81 (95% CI = 0.67-0.98), p = 0.032. The variants did not significantly interact with mortality benefit associated with cornerstone HF pharmacotherapies (p > 0.1 for all). CONCLUSIONS: A recently discovered cardiac-specific regulatory variant for PRKCA (rs9909004) was independently associated with a decreased risk for all-cause mortality in patients with HF. The variant did not interact with mortality benefit associated with cornerstone HF pharmacotherapies.

Determining Allele-Specific Protein Expression (ASPE) Using a Novel Quantitative Concatamer Based Proteomics Method.

Measuring allele-specific expression (ASE) is a powerful approach for identifying cis-regulatory genetic variants. Here, we developed a novel targeted proteomics method for the quantification of allele-specific protein expression (ASPE) based on scheduled parallel reaction monitoring (PRM) with a heavy stable isotope-labeled quantitative concatamer (QconCAT) internal protein standard. This strategy was applied to the determination of the ASPE of UGT2B15 in human livers using the common UGT2B15 nonsynonymous variant rs1902023 (i.e., Y85D) as the marker to differentiate expressions from the two alleles. The QconCAT standard contains both the wild-type tryptic peptide and the Y85D mutant peptide at a ratio of 1:1 to ensure accurate measurement of the ASPE of UGT2B15. The results from 18 UGT2B15 Y85D heterozygotes revealed that the ratios between the wild-type Y allele and the mutant D allele varied from 0.60 to 1.46, indicating the presence of cis-regulatory variants. In addition, we observed no significant correlations between the ASPE and mRNA ASE of UGT2B15, suggesting the involvement of different cis-acting variants in regulating the transcription and translation processes of the gene. This novel ASPE approach provides a powerful tool for capturing cis-genetic variants involved in post-transcription processes, an important yet understudied area of research.

Multimodal Rehabilitation Program Promotes Motor Function Recovery of Rats After Ischemic Stroke by Upregulating Expressions of GAP-43, SYN, HSP70, and C-MYC.

BACKGROUND: Despite the intense efforts devoted to preventing and treating cerebral ischemia, some individuals will continue to have completed infarctions. Failure of prevention or intervention does not, however, preclude therapeutic approaches to enhance recovery. Our study aims to explore the effect of multimodal rehabilitation program on the motor function recovery of rats with ischemic stroke. METHODS: Rat models of ischemic stroke were established using clean-grade adult male Sprague-Dawley rats. Motor function of rats was scored by the Bederson neurological function, balance beam test, and screen test. Nissl staining was conducted for morphological and structural changes of nerve cells in the arteriae cerebri anterior zone. Immunohistochemistry was applied to detect the expressions of growth-associated protein (GAP-43), synaptophysin (SYN) and Caspase-3, terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) staining was carried out in the corpus striatum 21 days after operation; reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis were conducted for testing messager RNA (mRNA) and protein expressions of heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) and MYC proto-oncogene (c-Myc). RESULTS: Rats receiving multimodal rehabilitation program had lower Bederson neurological function, balance beam, and screen test scores on the 7th, 14th and 21st days after operation; more number of neurons surviving in the arteriae cerebri anterior zone at each time point after operation, higher GAP-43 expression on the 7th and 14th days after operation, and higher SYN expression on the 14th and 21st days after operation, on the 7th, 14th and 21st days after operation, higher mRNA and protein expressions of HSP70 and C-MYC, lower Caspase-3 positive expression and TUNEL positive stained cells. CONCLUSIONS: Multimodal rehabilitation program could promote motor function recovery of rats after ischemic stroke by upregulating GAP-43 and SYN expressions at arteriae cerebri anterior zone and upregulating HSP70 and C-MYC expressions in the brain tissues.

The CHRNA5/CHRNA3/CHRNB4 Nicotinic Receptor Regulome: Genomic Architecture, Regulatory Variants, and Clinical Associations.

Functionally related genes often cluster into a genome region under coordinated regulation, forming a local regulome. To understand regulation of the CHRNA5/CHRNA3/CHRNB4 nicotinic receptor gene cluster, we integrate large-scale RNA expression data (brain and peripheral) from GTEx (Genotype Tissue Expression), clinical associations (GRASP), and linkage disequilibrium data (1000 Genomes) to find candidate SNPs representing independent regulatory variants. CHRNA3, CHRNA5, CHRNB4 mRNAs, and a well-expressed CHRNA5 antisense RNA (RP11-650L12.2) are co-expressed in many human tissues, suggesting common regulatory elements. The CHRNA5 enhancer haplotype tagged by rs880395 not only increases CHRNA5 mRNA expression in all tissues, but also enhances RP11-650L12.2 and CHRNA3 expression, suggesting DNA looping to multiple promoters. However, in nucleus accumbens and putamen, but not other brain regions, CHRNA3 expression associates uniquely with a haplotype tagged by rs1948 (located in the CHRNB4 3'UTR). Haplotype/diplotype analysis of rs880395 and rs1948 plus rs16969968 (a nonsynonymous CHRNA5 risk variant) in GWAS (COGEND, UW-TTURC, SAGE) yields a nicotine dependence risk profile only partially captured by rs16969968 alone. An example of local gene clusters, this nicotinic regulome is controlled by complex genetic variation, with broad implications for interpreting GWAS.

Functional characterization of CYP2D6 enhancer polymorphisms.

CYP2D6 metabolizes nearly 25% of clinically used drugs. Genetic polymorphisms cause large inter-individual variability in CYP2D6 enzyme activity and are currently used as biomarker to predict CYP2D6 metabolizer phenotype. Previously, we had identified a region 115 kb downstream of CYP2D6 as enhancer for CYP2D6, containing two completely linked single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs133333 and rs5758550, associated with enhanced transcription. However, the enhancer effect on CYP2D6 expression, and the causative variant, remained to be ascertained. To characterize the CYP2D6 enhancer element, we applied chromatin conformation capture combined with the next-generation sequencing (4C assays) and chromatin immunoprecipitation with P300 antibody, in HepG2 and human primary culture hepatocytes. The results confirmed the role of the previously identified enhancer region in CYP2D6 expression, expanding the number of candidate variants to three highly linked SNPs (rs133333, rs5758550 and rs4822082). Among these, only rs5758550 demonstrated regulating enhancer activity in a reporter gene assay. Use of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats mediated genome editing in HepG2 cells targeting suspected enhancer regions decreased CYP2D6 mRNA expression by 70%, only upon deletion of the rs5758550 region. These results demonstrate robust effects of both the enhancer element and SNP rs5758550 on CYP2D6 expression, supporting consideration of rs5758550 for CYP2D6 genotyping panels to yield more accurate phenotype prediction.

Regulatory Variants Modulate Protein Kinase C α (PRKCA) Gene Expression in Human Heart.

PURPOSE: Protein kinase C α (PRKCA) is involved in multiple functions and has been implicated in heart failure risks and treatment outcomes. This study aims to identify regulatory variants affecting PRKCA expression in human heart, and evaluate attributable risk of heart disease. METHODS: mRNA expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) were extracted from the Genotype and Tissue Expression Project (GTEx). Allelic mRNA ratios were measured in 51 human heart tissues to identify cis-acting regulatory variants. Potential regulatory regions were tested with luciferase reporter gene assays and further evaluated in GTEx and genome-wide association studies. RESULTS: Located in a region with robust enhancer activity in luciferase reporter assays, rs9909004 (T > C, minor allele frequency =0.47) resides in a haplotype displaying strong eQTLs for PRKCA in heart (p = 1.2 × 10-23). The minor C allele is associated with both decreased PRKCA mRNA expression and decreased risk of phenotypes characteristic of heart failure in GWAS analyses (QT interval p = 3.0 × 10-14). While rs9909004 is the likely regulatory variant, other variants in high linkage disequilibrium cannot be excluded. Distinct regulatory variants appear to affect expression in other tissues. CONCLUSIONS: The haplotype carrying rs9909004 influences PRKCA expression in the heart and is associated with traits linked to heart failure, potentially affecting therapy of heart failure.