Background— A significant number of patients treated with anthracyclines develop cardiotoxicity (anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity [ACT]), mainly presenting as arrhythmias (acute ACT) or congestive heart failure (chronic ACT). There are no data on pharmacogenomic predictors of ACT. Methods and Results— We genotyped participants of the German non-Hodgkin lymphoma study (NHL-B) who were followed up for the development of heart failure for a median of >3 years. Single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were selected from 82 genes with conceivable relevance to ACT. Of 1697 patients, 55 developed acute and 54 developed chronic ACT (cumulative incidence of either form, 3.2%). We detected 5 significant associations with polymorphisms of the NAD(P)H oxidase and doxorubicin efflux transporters. Chronic ACT was associated with a variant of the NAD(P)H oxidase subunit NCF4 (rs1883112, −212A→G; symbols with right-pointing arrows, as edited?‘ odds ratio [OR], 2.5; 95% CI, 1.3 to 5.0). Acute ACT was associated with the His72Tyr polymorphism in the p22phox subunit (rs4673; OR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.0 to 3.9) and with the variant 7508T→A (rs13058338; OR, 2.6; 95% CI, 1.3 to 5.1) of the RAC2 subunit of the same enzyme. In agreement with these results, mice deficient in NAD(P)H oxidase activity, unlike wild-type mice, were resistant to chronic doxorubicin treatment. In addition, acute ACT was associated with the Gly671Val variant of the doxorubicin efflux transporter multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1) (OR, 3.6; 95% CI, 1.6 to 8.4) and with the Val1188Glu-Cys1515Tyr (rs8187694-rs8187710) haplotype of the functionally similar MRP2 (OR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.0 to 5.4). Polymorphisms in adrenergic receptors previously demonstrated to be predictive of heart failure were not associated with ACT. Conclusions— Genetic variants in doxorubicin transport and free radical metabolism may modulate the individual risk to develop ACT.

Mutations of the KRAS oncogene are predictive for resistance to treatment with antibodies against the epithelial growth factor receptor in patients with colorectal cancer. Overcoming this therapeutic dilemma could potentially be achieved by the introduction of drugs that inhibit signaling pathways that are activated by KRAS mutations. To identify comprehensively such signaling pathways we profiled pretreatment biopsies and normal mucosa from 65 patients with locally advanced rectal cancer - 30 of which carried mutated KRAS - using global gene expression microarrays. By comparing all tumor tissues exclusively to matched normal mucosa, we could improve assay sensitivity, and identified a total of 22,297 features that were differentially expressed (adjusted P-value <0.05) between normal mucosa and cancer, including several novel potential rectal cancer genes. We then used this comprehensive description of the rectal cancer transcriptome as the baseline for identifying KRAS-dependent alterations. The presence of activating KRAS mutations is significantly correlated to an upregulation of 13 genes (adjusted P-value <0.05), among them DUSP4, a MAP-kinase phosphatase, and SMYD3, a histone methyltransferase. Inhibition of the expression of both genes has previously been shown using the MEK1-inhibitor PD98059 and the antibacterial compound Novobiocin, respectively. These findings suggest a potential approach to overcome resistance to treatment with antibodies against the epithelial growth factor receptor in patients with KRAS-mutant rectal carcinomas.

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The term “gelatinization” of starch generally describes an irreversible structural change observable on all product design scales ranging from micro to macro level. These structural transformations of starch during thermal impact and in following production steps are highly dependent on several different aspects, which are, however, not sufficiently specified. In order to achieve a better understanding of these heat‐induced changes it is necessary to cluster the influencing aspects into the following two categories, raw material properties and process parameters. The development of physical analytical methods with their corresponding gelatinization aspects, in relation to their process parameters, is illustrated in this review. Based on the current knowledge it becomes apparent that no analytical system is present which would allow the investigation of starch gelatinization and the resulting structural changes on different length scales in food products. Therefore, the application of a specified non‐invasive online analyzing system to follow the starch gelatinization within a complex food matrix is recommended.

We are the first to report the mutation status of KRAS and BRAF in pre-therapeutic biopsies from locally advanced rectal cancers. The high number of KRAS mutations in codons 61 and 146 emphasizes the importance to expand current mutation analyses, whereas BRAF mutations are not relevant for rectal carcinogenesis. Although the KRAS mutation status was not correlated with response, the subtle difference between G12V and G13D mutations warrants analysis of a larger patient population.

Our findings reconcile the apparent contradiction between the evidence for the influence of the individual genetic makeup on CYP3A4 expression and activity suggested by clinical studies, and the failure to identify the responsible gene variants.

There is little data on genetic predictors of loop diuretic efficacy in humans. Therefore, we investigated the diuretic effects of single oral doses of bumetanide, frusemide, and torsemide in a crossover study in 97 healthy Caucasians in relation to genetic variation in the renal sodium transporters NKCC2 (coded by SLC12A1), NCC (SLC12A3), and ENaC (three subunits coded by SCNN1A, SCNN1B, and SCNN1G). The NCC alanine 264 allele (Gly264Ala) and the most frequent SCNN1B haplotype were associated with stronger diuresis, indicating lower reabsorbing function of these alleles. The variant alleles of the tightly coupled polymorphisms rs5723 (Leu649Leu) and rs5729 in SCNN1G were associated with weaker diuresis, indicating higher activity. Extended haplotype homozygosity implied evolutionary selection of the NCC alanine 264 allele. In conclusion, acute diuretic effects of loop diuretics were affected by genetic variation in sodium transporters that, in the nephron, are located distally from NKCC2.