Progress in understanding the genomic basis for adverse drug reactions: a comprehensive review and focus on the role of ethnicity

Sze Ling Chan; Shengnan Jin; Marie Loh; Liam R Brunham

doi:10.2217/pgs.15.54

Progress in understanding the genomic basis for adverse drug reactions: a comprehensive review and focus on the role of ethnicity

Pharmacogenomics. 2015;16(10):1161-78. doi: 10.2217/pgs.15.54. Epub 2015 May 15.

Authors

Sze Ling Chan¹, Shengnan Jin¹, Marie Loh¹, Liam R Brunham^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Translational Laboratory in Genetic Medicine, Agency for Science Technology & Research, & the National University of Singapore, Singapore.
² Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore.

PMID: 25978008
DOI: 10.2217/pgs.15.54

Abstract

A major goal of the field of pharmacogenomics is to identify the genomic causes of serious adverse drug reactions (ADRs). Increasingly, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been used to achieve this goal. In this article, we review recent progress in the identification of genetic variants associated with ADRs using GWAS and discuss emerging themes from these studies. We also compare aspects of GWAS for ADRs to GWAS for common diseases. In the second part of the article, we review progress in performing pharmacogenomic research in multi-ethnic populations and discuss the challenges and opportunities of investigating genetic causes of ADRs in ethnically diverse patient populations.

Keywords: HLA; adverse drug reactions; common diseases; ethnic diversity; genome-wide association studies; pharmacogenomics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / genetics*
Ethnicity / genetics*
Genetic Variation / genetics*
Genome-Wide Association Study / methods
Genomics / methods
Humans
Pharmacogenetics / methods