Objectives: Drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is a serious adverse reaction due to flucloxacillin. The pathogenesis is not fully understood. Female sex, age over 60 years, and a longer treatment duration have been suggested to be predisposing factors. Carriers of HLA-B*57:01 have an 80-fold increased risk, but due to the rarity of the reaction, testing of all patients is not cost-effective. We aimed to validate and detect clinical risk factors for flucloxacillin DILI.

Methods: Clinical characteristics of flucloxacillin-treated patients with (n=50) and without DILI (n=2,330) were compared in a retrospective case control study. Cases were recruited from the Swedish database of spontaneously reported adverse drug reactions. Treated controls were selected from the Swedish Twin Registry. Statistical comparisons were made using chi-squared test and logistic regression. The significance threshold was set to P<0.00357 to correct for multiple comparisons. Reliable variables were tested in a multiple regression model.

Results: DILI was associated with female sex, OR 2.79,95% CI 1.50-5.17, P=0.0011, and with a history of kidney stones, OR 5.51, 95% CI 2.21-13.72, P=0.0003. Cases were younger than controls, OR per increase in years 0.91,95% CI 0.88-0.94, P<0.0001, probably due to selection bias. No difference in treatment duration was detected, OR 1.03,95% CI 0.98-1.08, P=0.1790.

Conclusion: We established female sex as a risk factor for flucloxacillin-induced DILI, and a history of kidney stones was identified as a potential risk factor. Clinical risk factors for flucloxacillin-induced DILI could be used to indicate whom to test for HLA-B*57:01 before treatment.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease of the central nervous system treated with disease-modifying therapies, including the biologic, interferon-β (IFN-β). Up to 60% of IFN-β-exposed MS patients develop abnormal biochemical liver test results^1,2, and 1 in 50 experiences drug-induced liver injury³. Since genomic variation contributes to other forms of drug-induced liver injury^4,5, we aimed to identify biomarkers of IFN-β-induced liver injury using a two-stage genome-wide association study. The rs2205986 variant, previously linked to differential expression of IRF6, surpassed genome-wide significance in the combined two-stage analysis (P = 2.3 × 10^–8, odds ratio = 8.3, 95% confidence interval = 3.6–19.2). Analysis of an independent cohort of IFN-β-treated MS patients identified via electronic medical records showed that rs2205986 was also associated with increased peak levels of aspartate aminotransferase (P = 7.6 × 10^–5) and alkaline phosphatase (P = 4.9 × 10^-4). We show that these findings may be applicable to predicting IFN-β-induced liver injury, offering insight into its safer use.

Agranulocytosis is a serious, although rare, adverse reaction to sulfasalazine, which is used to treat inflammatory joint and bowel disease. We performed a genome‐wide association study comprising 9,380,034 polymorphisms and 180 HLA alleles in 36 cases of sulfasalazine‐induced agranulocytosis and 5,170 population controls. Sulfasalazine‐induced agranulocytosis was significantly associated with the HLA region on chromosome 6. The top hit (rs9266634) was located close to HLA‐B, odds ratio (OR) 5.36 (95% confidence interval (CI) (2.97, 9.69) P = 2.55 × 10⁻⁸). We HLA‐sequenced a second cohort consisting of 40 cases and 142 treated controls, and confirmed significant associations with HLA‐B*08:01, OR = 2.25 (95% CI (1.02, 4.97) P = 0.0439), in particular the HLA‐B*08:01 haplotype HLA‐DQB1*02:01‐DRB1*03:01‐B*08:01‐C*07:01, OR = 3.79 (95% CI (1.63, 8.80) P = 0.0019), and with HLA‐A*31:01, OR = 4.81 (95% CI (1.52, 15.26) P = 0.0077). The number needed to test for HLA‐B*08:01 and HLA‐A*31:01 to avoid one case was estimated to be 1,500. We suggest that intensified monitoring or alternative treatment should be considered for known carriers of HLA‐B*08:01 or HLA‐A*31:01.

Aims: A genetic variant in LILRB5 (leukocyte immunoglobulin-like receptor subfamily-B) (rs12975366: T > C: Asp247Gly) has been reported to be associated with lower creatine phosphokinase (CK) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. Both biomarkers are released from injured muscle tissue, making this variant a potential candidate for susceptibility to muscle-related symptoms. We examined the association of this variant with statin intolerance ascertained from electronic medical records in the GoDARTS study.

Methods and results: In the GoDARTS cohort, the LILRB5 Asp247 variant was associated with statin intolerance (SI) phenotypes; one defined as having raised CK and being non-adherent to therapy [odds ratio (OR) 1.81; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.34–2.45] and the other as being intolerant to the lowest approved dose of a statin before being switched to two or more other statins (OR 1.36; 95% CI: 1.07–1.73). Those homozygous for Asp247 had increased odds of developing both definitions of intolerance. Importantly the second definition did not rely on CK elevations. These results were replicated in adjudicated cases of statin-induced myopathy in the PREDICTION-ADR consortium (OR1.48; 95% CI: 1.05–2.10) and for the development of myalgia in the JUPITER randomized clinical trial of rosuvastatin (OR1.35, 95% CI: 1.10–1.68). A meta-analysis across the studies showed a consistent association between Asp247Gly and outcomes associated with SI (OR1.34; 95% CI: 1.16–1.54).

Conclusion: This study presents a novel immunogenetic factor associated with statin intolerance, an important risk factor for cardiovascular outcomes. The results suggest that true statin-induced myalgia and non-specific myalgia are distinct, with a potential role for the immune system in their development. We identify a genetic group that is more likely to be intolerant to their statins.

Objective. To asses a cohort of 105 consecutive patients with angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitor induced angioedema withregard to demographics, risk factors, family history of angioedema, hospitalization, airway management, outcome, and use ofdiagnostic codes used for the condition.

Study Design. Cohort study.

Methods.This was a retrospective cohort study of 105 patientswith angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitor induced angioedema in the period 1995–2014.

Results. The cohort consisted of 67females and 38 males (F :Mratio 1.8), with a mean age of 63 [range 26–86] years. Female gender was associated with a significantlyhigher risk of angiotensin converting enzyme-inhibitor induced angioedema. 6.7% had a positive family history of angioedema.Diabetes seemed to be a protective factor with regard to angioedema. 95% experienced angioedema of the head and neck. 4.7%needed intubation or tracheostomy. 74 admissions took place during the study period with a total of 143 days spent in the hospital.The diagnosis codes most often used for this condition were “DT783 Quincke’s oedema” and “DT78.4 Allergy unspecified”.Complement C1 inhibitor was normal in all tested patients.

Conclusion. Female gender predisposes to angiotensin convertingenzyme-inhibitor induced angioedema, whereas diabetes seems to be a protective factor.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: We performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify genetic risk factors for druginduced liver injury (DILI) from licensed drugs without previously reported genetic risk factors. METHODS: We performed a GWAS of 862 persons with DILI and 10,588 population-matched controls. The first set of cases was recruited before May 2009 in Europe (n = 137) and the United States (n = 274). The second set of cases were identified from May 2009 through May 2013 from international collaborative studies performed in Europe, the United States, and South America. For the GWAS, we included only cases with patients of European ancestry associated with a particular drug (but not flucloxacillin or amoxicillin-clavulanate). We used DNA samples from all subjects to analyze HLA genes and single nucleotide polymorphisms. After the discovery analysis was concluded, we validated our findings using data from 283 European patients with diagnosis of DILI associated with various drugs. RESULTS: We associated DILI with rs114577328 (a proxy for A* 33: 01 a HLA class I allele; odds ratio [OR], 2.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.9 - 3.8; P = 2.4 x 10(-8)) and with rs72631567 on chromosome 2 (OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.6 - 2.5; P = 9.7 x 10(-9)). The association with A* 33: 01 was mediated by large effects for terbinafine-, fenofibrate-, and ticlopidine-related DILI. The variant on chromosome 2 was associated with DILI from a variety of drugs. Further phenotypic analysis indicated that the association between DILI and A* 33: 01 was significant genome wide for cholestatic and mixed DILI, but not for hepatocellular DILI; the polymorphism on chromosome 2 was associated with cholestatic and mixed DILI as well as hepatocellular DILI. We identified an association between rs28521457 (within the lipopolysaccharide-responsive vesicle trafficking, beach and anchor containing gene) and only hepatocellular DILI (OR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.6 - 2.7; P = 4.8 x 10(-9)). We did not associate any specific drug classes with genetic polymorphisms, except for statin-associated DILI, which was associated with rs116561224 on chromosome 18 (OR, 5.4; 95% CI, 3.0 - 9.5; P = 7.1 x 10(-9)). We validated the association between A* 33: 01 terbinafine-and sertraline-induced DILI. We could not validate the association between DILI and rs72631567, rs28521457, or rs116561224. CONCLUSIONS: In a GWAS of persons of European descent with DILI, we associated HLA-A* 33: 01 with DILI due to terbinafine and possibly fenofibrate and ticlopidine. We identified polymorphisms that appear to be associated with DILI from statins, as well as 2 non-drug-specific risk factors.