A Web-Based Pharmacogenomics Search Tool for Precision Medicine in Perioperative Care

Background: Precision medicine represents an evolving approach to improve treatment efficacy by modifying it to individual patient's gene variation. Pharmacogenetics, an applicable branch of precision medicine, identifies patient's predisposing genotypes that alter the clinical outcome of the drug, hence preventing serious adverse drug reactions. Pharmacogenetics has been extensively applied to various fields of medicine, but in the field of anesthesiology and preoperative medicine, it has been unexploited. Although the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has a table of pharmacogenomics biomarkers and pharmacogenetics, this table only includes general side effects of the included drugs. Thus, the existing FDA table offers limited information on genetic variations that may increase drug side effects. Aims: The purpose of this paper is to provide a web-based pharmacogenomics search tool composed of a comprehensive list of medications that have pharmacogenetic relevance to perioperative medicine that might also have application in other fields of medicine. Method: For this investigation, the FDA table of pharmacogenomics biomarkers in drug labeling was utilized as an in-depth of drugs to construct our pharmacogenetics drug table. We performed a literature search for drug-gene interactions using the unique list of drugs in the FDA table. Publications containing the drug-gene interactions were identified and reviewed. Additional drugs and extracted gene-interactions in the identified publications were added to the constructed drug table. Result: Our tool provides a comprehensive pharmacogenetic drug table including 258 drugs with a total of 461 drug-gene interactions and their corresponding gene variations that might cause modifications in drug efficacy, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and adverse reactions. This tool is freely accessible online and can be applied as a web-based search instrument for drug-gene interactions in different fields of medicine, including perioperative medicine. Conclusion: In this research, we collected drug-gene interactions in a web-based searchable tool that could be used by physicians to expand their field knowledge in pharmacogenetics and facilitate their clinical decision making. This precision medicine tool could further serve in establishing a comprehensive perioperative pharmacogenomics database that also includes different fields of medicine that could influence the outcome of perioperative medicine.