0000000000089763
AUTHOR
Bettina Kulle
Dystrophin-deficiency increases the susceptibility to doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity
Background and aim: The clinical use of doxorubicin (DOX) and other anthracyclines is limited by a dosage-dependent cardiotoxicity, which can lead to cardiomyopathy. The role of the individual genetic makeup in this disorder is poorly understood. Alterations in genes encoding cardiac cytoskeleton or sarcolemma proteins may increase the susceptibility to doxorubicin-related cardiotoxicity. Methods: Female dystrophin-deficient mice (MDX) and age-matched wild-type mice underwent chronic treatment with doxorubicin. Cardiac function and tissue damage were assessed by echocardiography and histopathology, respectively. Gene expression changes were investigated using microarrays. Results: DOX treat…
Accounting for haplotype phase uncertainty in linkage disequilibrium estimation
The characterization of linkage disequilibrium (LD) is applied in a variety of studies including the identification of molecular determinants of the local recombination rate, the migration and population history of populations, and the role of positive selection in adaptation. LD suffers from the phase uncertainty of the haplotypes used in its calculation, which reflects limitations of the algorithms used for haplotype estimation. We introduce a LD calculation method, which deals with phase uncertainty by weighting all possible haplotype pairs according to their estimated probabilities as evaluated by PHASE. In contrast to the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm as implemented in the HA…
Sex-dependent genetic markers of CYP3A4 expression and activity in human liver microsomes
Objective: To find genetic markers of the individual cytochrome P450 (CYP)3A expression. Methods: A large collection of liver samples phenotyped for CYP3A expression and activity was genotyped for CYP3A variants. Data were analyzed for associations between CYP3A phenotypes and genotypes, and for evidence of recent selection. Results: We report associations between the hepatic CYP3A4 protein expression level, as well as its enzymatic activity, measured as verapamil N-dealkylation, and genetic polymorphisms from two regions within the CYP3A gene cluster. One region is defined by several variants, mostly located within CYP3A7, the other by a single nucleotide polymorphism in intron 7 of CYP3A…