@article {8295, title = {Pharmacogenetics driving personalized medicine: analysis of genetic polymorphisms related to breast cancer medications in Italian isolated populations.}, journal = {J Transl Med}, volume = {14}, year = {2016}, month = {2016}, pages = {22}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women characterized by a high variable clinical outcome among individuals treated with equivalent regimens and novel targeted therapies. In this study, we performed a population based approach intersecting high-throughput genotype data from Friuli Venezia Giulia (FVG) isolated populations with publically available pharmacogenomics information to estimate the frequency of genotypes correlated with responsiveness to breast cancer treatment thus improving the clinical management of this disease in an efficient and cost effective way.

METHODS: A list of 80 variants reported to be related to the efficacy or toxicity of breast cancer drugs was obtained from PharmGKB database. Fourty-one were present in FVG, 1000G European (EUR) and ExAC (Non Finnish European) databases. Their frequency was extracted using PLINK software and the differences tested by Fisher{\textquoteright}s exact test.

RESULTS: Statistical analyses revealed that 13 out of the 41 (32 \%) variants were significantly different in frequency in our sample as compared to the EUR/ExAC cohorts. For nine variants the available level of evidence (LOE) included polymorphisms related to cyclophosphamide, tamoxifen, doxorubicin, fluorpyrimidine and paclitaxel. In particular, for trastuzumab two variants were detected: (1) rs1801274-G within FCGR2A and associated with decreased efficacy (LOE 2B); (2) rs1136201-G located within ERBB2 and associated with increased toxicity (LOE 3). Both these two variants were underrepresented in the FVG population compared to EUR/ExAC population thus suggesting a high therapeutic index of this drug in our population. Moreover, as regards fluoropyrimidines, the frequency of two polymorphisms within the DPYD gene associated with drug toxicity (e.g., rs2297595-C allele and rs3918290-T allele, LOE 2A and 1, respectively) was extremely low in FVG population thus suggesting that a larger number of FVG patients could benefit from full dosage of fluoropyrimidine therapy.

CONCLUSIONS: All these findings increase the overall knowledge on the prevalence of specific variants related with breast cancer treatment responsiveness in FVG population and highlight the importance of assessing gene polymorphisms related with cancer medications in isolated communities.

}, issn = {1479-5876}, doi = {10.1186/s12967-016-0778-z}, author = {Cocca, Massimiliano and Bedognetti, Davide and La Bianca, Martina and Gasparini, Paolo and Girotto, Giorgia} } @article {7740, title = {The p.Cys169Tyr variant of connexin 26 is not a polymorphism.}, journal = {Hum Mol Genet}, volume = {24}, year = {2015}, month = {2015 May 1}, pages = {2641-8}, abstract = {

Mutations in the GJB2 gene, which encodes the gap junction protein connexin 26 (Cx26), are the primary cause of hereditary prelingual hearing impairment. Here, the p.Cys169Tyr missense mutation of Cx26 (Cx26C169Y), previously classified as a polymorphism, has been identified as causative of severe hearing loss in two Qatari families. We have analyzed the effect of this mutation using a combination of confocal immunofluorescence microscopy and molecular dynamics simulations. At the cellular level, our results show that the mutant protein fails to form junctional channels in HeLa transfectants despite being correctly targeted to the plasma membrane. At the molecular level, this effect can be accounted for by disruption of the disulfide bridge that Cys169 forms with Cys64 in the wild-type structure (Cx26WT). The lack of the disulfide bridge in the Cx26C169Y protein causes a spatial rearrangement of two important residues, Asn176 and Thr177. In the Cx26WT protein, these residues play a crucial role in the intra-molecular interactions that permit the formation of an intercellular channel by the head-to-head docking of two opposing hemichannels resident in the plasma membrane of adjacent cells. Our results elucidate the molecular pathogenesis of hereditary hearing loss due to the connexin mutation and facilitate the understanding of its role in both healthy and affected individuals.

}, keywords = {Alleles, Amino Acid Substitution, Cell Line, Connexins, Female, Gap Junctions, Gene Expression, Genotype, Hearing Loss, Humans, Immunohistochemistry, Male, Models, Molecular, Mutation, Missense, Pedigree, Polymorphism, Genetic, Protein Conformation, Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs, Transfection}, issn = {1460-2083}, doi = {10.1093/hmg/ddv026}, author = {Zonta, Francesco and Girotto, Giorgia and Buratto, Damiano and Crispino, Giulia and Morgan, Anna and Abdulhadi, Khalid and Alkowari, Moza and Badii, Ramin and Gasparini, Paolo and Mammano, Fabio} } @article {8094, title = {PSIP1/LEDGF: a new gene likely involved in sensorineural progressive hearing loss.}, journal = {Sci Rep}, volume = {5}, year = {2015}, month = {2015}, pages = {18568}, abstract = {

Hereditary Hearing Loss (HHL) is an extremely heterogeneous disorder. Approximately 30 out of 80 known HHL genes are associated with autosomal dominant forms. Here, we identified PSIP1/LEDGF (isoform p75) as a novel strong candidate gene involved in dominant HHL. Using exome sequencing we found a frameshift deletion (c.1554_1555del leading to p.E518Dfs*2) in an Italian pedigree affected by sensorineural mild-to-moderate HHL but also showing a variable eye phenotype (i.e. uveitis, optic neuropathy). This deletion led to a premature stop codon (p.T519X) with truncation of the last 12 amino acids. PSIP1 was recently described as a transcriptional co-activator regulated by miR-135b in vestibular hair cells of the mouse inner ear as well as a possible protector against photoreceptor degeneration. Here, we demonstrate that it is ubiquitously expressed in the mouse inner ear. The PSIP1 mutation is associated with a peculiar audiometric slope toward the high frequencies. These findings indicate that PSIP1 likely plays an important role in HHL.

}, issn = {2045-2322}, doi = {10.1038/srep18568}, author = {Girotto, Giorgia and Scheffer, Deborah I and Morgan, Anna and Vozzi, Diego and Rubinato, Elisa and Di Stazio, Mariateresa and Muzzi, Enrico and Pensiero, Stefano and Giersch, Anne B and Corey, David P and Gasparini, Paolo} }