DruGeVar: An Online Resource Triangulating Drugs with Genes and Genomic Biomarkers for Clinical Pharmacogenomics

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Pharmacogenomics aims to rationalize drug use by minimizing drug toxicity and/or by increasing drug efficacy. A large number of genomic markers have been correlated with variable drug responses and severity of adverse drug reactions. Although a number of these drugs bear pharmacogenomic information in their labels--approved by regulatory agencies--and comprehensive drug/gene lists exist online, information related to the respective pharmacogenomic biomarkers is currently missing from such lists. METHODS: We extracted information from the published literature and online resources and developed DruGeVar (http://drugevar.genomicmedicinealliance.org), an online resource triangulating drugs with genes and pharmacogenomic biomarkers in an effort to build a comprehensive database that could serve clinical pharmacogenomics. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: A user-friendly data querying and visualization interface allows users to formulate simple and complex queries. Such a database would be readily applicable as a stand-alone resource or a plug-in module for other databases.