Atypical femoral fracture is a well-documented adverse reaction to bisphosphonates. It is strongly related to duration of bisphosphonate use, and the risk declines rapidly after drug withdrawal. The mechanism behind bisphosphonate-associated atypical femoral fracture is unclear, but a genetic predisposition has been suggested. With the aim to identify common genetic variants that could be used for preemptive genetic testing, we performed a genome-wide association study. Cases were recruited mainly through reports of adverse drug reactions sent to the Swedish Medical Products Agency on a nation-wide basis. We compared atypical femoral fracture cases (n=51) with population-based controls (n=4891), and to reduce the possibility of confounding by indication, we also compared with bisphosphonate-treated controls without a current diagnosis of cancer (n=324). The total number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms after imputation was 7,585,874. A genome-wide significance threshold of p<5x10(-8) was used to correct for multiple testing. In addition, we performed candidate gene analyses for a panel of 29 genes previously implicated in atypical femoral fractures (significance threshold of p<5.7x10(-6)). Compared with population controls, bisphosphonate-associated atypical femoral fracture was associated with four isolated, uncommon single-nucleotide polymorphisms. When cases were compared with bisphosphonate-treated controls, no statistically significant genome-wide association remained. We conclude that the detected associations were either false positives or related to the underlying disease, i.e., treatment indication. Furthermore, there was no significant association with single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the 29 candidate genes. In conclusion, this study found no evidence of a common genetic predisposition for bisphosphonate-associated atypical femoral fracture. Further studies of larger sample size to identify possible weakly associated genetic traits, as well as whole exome or whole-genome sequencing studies to identify possible rare genetic variation conferring a risk are warranted.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: We performed genetic analyses of a multiethnic cohort of patients with idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) to identify variants associated with susceptibility.

METHODS: We performed a genome-wide association study of 2048 individuals with DILI (cases) and 12,429 individuals without (controls). Our analysis included subjects of European (1806 cases and 10,397 controls), African American (133 cases and 1,314 controls), and Hispanic (109 cases and 718 controls) ancestry. We analyzed DNA from 113 Icelandic cases and 239,304 controls to validate our findings.

RESULTS: We associated idiosyncratic DILI with rs2476601, a nonsynonymous polymorphism that encodes a substitution of tryptophan with arginine in the protein tyrosine phosphatase, nonreceptor type 22 gene (PTPN22) (odds ratio [OR] 1.44; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.28-1.62; P = 1.2 x 10(-9) and replicated the finding in the validation set (OR 1.48; 95% CI 1.09-1.99; P =.01). The minor allele frequency showed the same effect size (OR > 1) among ethnic groups. The strongest association was with amoxicillin and clavulanate-associated DILI in persons of European ancestry (OR 1.62; 95% CI 1.32-1.98; P = 4.0 x 10(-6); allele frequency = 13.3%), but the polymorphism was associated with DILI of other causes (OR 1.37; 95% CI 1.21-1.56; P = 1.5 x 10(-6); allele frequency = 11.5%). Among amoxicillin-and clavulanate-associated cases of European ancestry, rs2476601 doubled the risk for DILI among those with the HLA risk alleles A* 02: 01 and DRB1* 15: 01.

CONCLUSIONS: In a genome-wide association study, we identified rs2476601 in PTPN22 as a non-HLA variant that associates with risk of liver injury caused by multiple drugs and validated our finding in a separate cohort. This variant has been associated with increased risk of autoimmune diseases, providing support for the concept that alterations in immune regulation contribute to idiosyncratic DILI.

Some patients prescribed flucloxacillin (similar to 0.01%) develop drug-induced liver injury (DILI). HLA-B*57:01 is an established genetic risk factor for flucloxacillin DILI. To consolidate this finding, identify additional genetic factors, and assess relevance of risk factors for flucloxacillin DILI in relation to DILI due to other penicillins, we performed a genomewide association study involving 197 flucloxacillin DILI cases and 6,835 controls. We imputed single-nucleotide polymorphism and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotypes. HLA-B*57:01 was the major risk factor (allelic odds ratio (OR) = 36.62; P = 2.67 x 10(-97)). HLA-B*57:03 also showed an association (OR = 79.21; P = 1.2 x 10(-6)). Within the HLA-B protein sequence, imputation showed valine(97), common to HLA-B*57:01 and HLA-B*57:03, had the largest effect (OR = 38.1; P = 9.7 x 10(-97)). We found no HLA-B*57 association with DILI due to other isoxazolyl penicillins (n = 6) or amoxicillin (n = 15) and no significant non-HLA signals for any penicillin-related DILI.

Aim: To assess predictors of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) elevation in methotrexate (MTX) treated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, and to describe the monitoring of liver enzymes, including handling and outcome of elevated ALT.

Methods: All RA patients starting MTX in January, 2005 to April, 2013 at a rheumatology clinic, (Uppsala University Hospital, Sweden) were identified from electronic medical records. Clinical and laboratory data were obtained from medical records, supplemented by telephone interviews. Predictors for ALT >1.5x over the upper limit of normal (ULN) were identified by multiple regression analysis.

Results: The study comprised 213 RA patients starting MTX. During a mean follow-up of 4.3 years, 6288 ALT tests were performed; 7% of tests with ALT were >ULN. ALT >1.5x ULN was observed in 44 (21%) patients and the strongest predictor was a pre-treatment elevation of ALT (adjusted odds ratio = 6.8, 95% CI 2.2-20.5). Recurrent elevations occurred in 70% of patients who continued treatment, and the proportion was similar in those with and without interventions, for example MTX dose reduction (67% vs 73%, P = 0.43). Seven patients (3%) permanently stopped MTX due to ALT elevation, and two were eventually diagnosed with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. No patient developed hepatic failure.

Conclusion: Only a small number of ALT tests performed during MTX therapy in RA capture an elevation. A pre-treatment elevation of ALT was the strongest predictor for early and recurrent ALT elevations during therapy. This study supports a more individualized approach to monitoring and handling of ALT elevations during MTX therapy in RA than recommended in current guidelines.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of narcolepsy rose sharply after the swine influenza A (H1N1) vaccination campaign with Pandemrix. Narcolepsy is an immune-related disorder with excessive daytime sleepiness. The most frequent form is strongly associated with HLA-DQB1*06:02, but only a minority of carriers develop narcolepsy. We aimed to identify genetic markers that predispose to Pandemrix-induced narcolepsy.

METHODS: We tested for genome-wide and candidate gene associations in 42 narcolepsy cases and 4981 controls. Genotyping was performed on Illumina arrays, HLA alleles were imputed using SNP2HLA, and single nucleotide polymorphisms were imputed using the haplotype reference consortium panel. The genome-wide significance threshold was p < 5 × 10^-8, and the nominal threshold was p < 0.05. Results were replicated in 32 cases and 7125 controls. Chromatin data was used for functional annotation.

FINDINGS: Carrying HLA-DQB1*06:02 was significantly associated with narcolepsy, odds ratio (OR) 39.4 [95% confidence interval (CI) 11.3, 137], p = 7.9 × 10^-9. After adjustment for HLA, GDNF-AS1 (rs62360233) was significantly associated, OR = 8.7 [95% CI 4.2, 17.5], p = 2.6 × 10^-9, and this was replicated, OR = 3.4 [95% CI 1.2-9.6], p = 0.022. Functional analysis revealed variants in high LD with rs62360233 that might explain the detected association. The candidate immune-gene locus TRAJ (rs1154155) was nominally associated in both the discovery and replication cohorts, meta-analysis OR = 2.0 [95% CI 1.4, 2.8], p = 0.0002.

INTERPRETATION: We found a novel association between Pandemrix-induced narcolepsy and the non-coding RNA gene GDNF-AS1, which has been shown to regulate expression of the essential neurotrophic factor GDNF. Changes in regulation of GDNF have been associated with neurodegenerative diseases. This finding may increase the understanding of disease mechanisms underlying narcolepsy. Associations between Pandemrix-induced narcolepsy and immune-related genes were replicated.

Carbamazepine (CBZ) causes life-threating T-cell-mediated hypersensitivity reactions, including serious cutaneous adverse reactions (SCARs) and drug-induced liver injury (CBZ-DILI). In order to evaluate shared or phenotype-specific genetic predisposing factors for CBZ hypersensitivity reactions, we performed a meta-analysis of two genomewide association studies (GWAS) on a total of 43 well-phenotyped Northern and Southern European CBZ-SCAR cases and 10,701 population controls and a GWAS on 12 CBZ-DILI cases and 8,438 ethnically matched population controls. HLA-A*31:01 was identified as the strongest genetic predisposing factor for both CBZ-SCAR (odds ratio (OR) = 8.0; 95% CI 4.10-15.80; P = 1.2 x 10(-9)) and CBZ-DILI (OR = 7.3; 95% CI 2.47-23.67; P = 0.0004) in European populations. The association with HLA-A*31:01 in patients with SCAR was mainly driven by hypersensitivity syndrome (OR = 12.9; P = 2.1 x 10(-9)) rather than by Stevens-Johnson syndrome/toxic epidermal necrolysis cases, which showed an association with HLA-B*57:01. We also identified a novel risk locus mapping to ALK only for CBZ-SCAR cases, which needs replication in additional cohorts and functional evaluation.

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.