Abstract
Patients presenting with degenerative spinal changes are often poor surgical candidates due to associated co-morbidities, frailty, or sarcopenia. Additionally, surgeries of a degenerative spine can prove difficult due to the distortion of normal surgical anatomy. Therefore, many patients are managed conservatively with a variety of modalities, including over-the-counter and prescription medications. Nevertheless, several patients do not experience adequate relief from pain with analgesic medications, precipitating multiple hospital visits, and usage of resources. As a result, back pain is regarded as a major economic burden, with total costs of associated treatment exceeding $100 billion annually. Pharmacogenetics is a relatively novel method of evaluating an individual’s response to analgesic medications, through analysis of germline polymorphisms. It entails obtaining a genetic sample, often via buccal swab or peripheral blood sample, and genetic analysis achieved through either polymerase chain reaction +/− Sanger sequencing, microassays, restriction length fragment polymorphism analysis, or genetic library preparation and next generation sequencing. The potential efficacy of pharmacogenetic analysis has been highlighted across several specialities to date. However, a paucity of evidence exists regarding spine surgery populations. Nevertheless, regular prospective pharmacogenetic analysis may ultimately prove beneficial when concerning degenerative spinal cohorts due to aforementioned surgical and economic considerations. The purpose of this narrative review is to outline how metaboliser profile variants affect the pharmacokinetics of specific analgesia used to treat back pain, and to discuss the current potential and limitations of employing regular pharmacogenetic analysis for spine surgery populations with degenerative conditions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Roses A (2000) Pharmacogenetics and the practice of medicine. Nature 405:857–865
Spear BB, Heath-Chiozzi M, Huff J (2001) Clinical application of pharmacogenetics. Trends Mol Med 7(5):201–204
Vogel F (1959) Moderne probleme der humangenetik. Ergeb Inn Med Kinderheilkd 12:52–62
Evans DA, Manley KA, McKusick VA (1960) Genetic control of isoniazid metabolism in man. Br Med J 2(5197):485–491
Chial H (2008) DNA sequencing technologies key to the Human Genome Project. Nature Education 1(1):219
Bank PCD, Caudle KE, Swen JJ et al (2018) Comparison of the Guidelines of the Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium and the Dutch Pharmacogenetics Working Group. Clin Pharmacol Ther 103(4):599–618
Hippman C, Nislow C (2019) Pharmacogenomic testing: clinical evidence and implementation challenges. J Pers Med 9(3):40
Mackay IM, Arden KE, Nitsche A (2002) Real-time PCR in virology. Nucleic Acids Res 30(6):1292–1305
Sanger F, Coulson AR (1975) A rapid method for determining sequences in DNA by primed synthesis with DNA polymerase. J Mol Biol 94(3):441–448
Taub F (1983) Laboratory methods: Sequential comparative hybridizations analyzed by computerized image processing can identify and quantitate regulated RNAs. DNA 2(4):309–327
Pollack JR, Perou CM, Alizadeh AA et al (1999) Genome-wide analysis of DNA copy-number changes using cDNA microarrays. Nat Genet 23(1):41–46
Young ND, Tanksley SD (1989) Restriction fragment length polymorphism maps and the concept of graphical genotypes. Theoret Appl Genetics 77:95–101
Bean LJH, Funke B, Carlston CM et al (2020) Diagnostic gene sequencing panels: from design to report—a technical standard of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG). Genet Med 22:453–461
Lelieveld SH, Spielmann M, Mundlos S et al (2015) Comparison of exome and genome sequencing technologies for the complete capture of protein-coding regions. Hum Mutat 36(8):815–822
Lundberg DS, Yourstone S, Mieczkowski P et al (2013) Practical innovations for high-throughput amplicon sequencing. Nat Methods 10(10):999–1002
Flusberg BA, Webster DR, Lee JH et al (2010) Direct detection of DNA methylation during single-molecule, real-time sequencing. Nat Methods 7(6):461–465
Deamer D, Akeson M, Branton D (2016) Three decades of nanopore sequencing. Nat Biotechnol 34:518–524
Milosavljevic F, Bukvic N, Pavlovic Z et al (2021) Association of CYP2C19 and CYP2D6 poor and intermediate metabolizer status with antidepressant and antipsychotic exposure: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA Psychiat 78(3):270–280
Furuya H, Fernandez-Salguero P, Gregory W et al (1995) Genetic polymorphism of CYP2C9 and its effect on warfarin maintenance dose requirement in patients undergoing anticoagulation therapy. Pharmacogenetics 5:389–392
Lennard L, Van Loon JA, Weinshilboum RM (1989) Pharmacogenetics of acute azathioprine toxicity: Relationship to thiopurine methyltransferase genetic polymorphism. Clin Pharmacol Ther 46:149–154
Israel E, Drazen JM, Liggett SB et al (2000) The effect of polymorphisms of the β2-adrenergic receptor on the response to regular use of albuterol in asthma. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 162:75–80
Ruzzo A, Graziano F, Kawakami K et al (2006) Pharmacogenetic profiling and clinical outcome of patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with palliative chemotherapy. J Clin Oncol 24(12):1883–1891
Roberto M, Romiti A, Botticelli A et al (2017) Evaluation of 5-fluorouracil degradation rate and pharmacogenetic profiling to predict toxicity following adjuvant capecitabine. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 73(2):157–164
Wu X, Lu C, Chiang SS, Ajani JA (2005) Pharmacogenetics in esophageal cancer. Semin Oncol 32(6 Suppl 9):S87–S89
Dahan L, Norguet E, Etienne-Grimaldi MC et al (2011) Pharmacogenetic profiling and cetuximab outcome in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. BMC Cancer 25(11):496
Pohl A, El-Khoueiry A, Yang D et al (2013) Pharmacogenetic profiling of CD133 is associated with response rate (RR) and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC), treated with bevacizumab-based chemotherapy. Pharmacogenomics J 13(2):173–180
Brugts JJ, Boersma E, Simoons ML (2010) Tailored therapy of ACE inhibitors in stable coronary artery disease: Pharmacogenetic profiling of treatment benefit. Pharmacogenomics 11(8):1115–1126
Hamilton WG, Gargiulo JM, Parks NL (2020) Using pharmacogenetics to structure individual pain management protocols in total knee arthroplasty. Bone Joint J 102-B(6_Supple_A):73–78
Herkowitz HN, Sidhu KS (1995) Lumbar spine fusion in the treatment of degenerative conditions: Current indications and recommendations. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 3(3):123–135
Schofferman J, Mazanec D (2008) Evidence-informed management of chronic low back pain with opioid analgesics. Spine J 8(1):185–194
DeLeo JA (2006) Basic science of pain. JBJS 88(2):58–62
Stucky CL, Gold MS, Zhang X (2001) Mechanisms of pain. Proc Natl Acad Sci 98(21):11845–11846
Kaye AD, Garcia AJ, Hall OM et al (2019) Update on the pharmacogenomics of pain management. Pharmgenomics Pers Med 12:125–143
Kushchayev SV, Glushko T, Jarraya M et al (2018) ABCs of the degenerative spine. Insights Imaging 9(2):253–274
Gouveia N, Rodrigues A, Ramiro S et al (2017) The use of analgesic and other pain-relief drugs to manage chronic low back pain: Results from a national survey. Pain Pract 17(3):353–365
Deyo RA, Von Korff M, Duhrkoop D (2015) Opioids for low back pain. BMJ 350:g6380
Flexman AM, Charest-Morin R, Stobart L et al (2016) Frailty and postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for degenerative spine disease. Spine J 16(11):1315–1323
Gibbons D, Ahern DP, Curley AE et al (2021) Impact of sarcopenia on degenerative lumbar spondylosis. Clin Spine Surg 34(2):43–50
Park S, Kim HJ, Ko BG et al (2016) The prevalence and impact of sarcopenia on degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis. Bone Joint J 98-B(8):1093–1098
Hersey AE, Durand WM, Eltorai AEM et al (2019) Longer operative time in elderly patients undergoing posterior lumbar fusion is independently associated with increased complication rate. Global Spine J 9(2):179–184
Samuel AM, Fu MC, Anandasivam NS et al (2017) After posterior fusions for adult spinal deformity, operative time is more predictive of perioperative morbidity, rather than surgical invasiveness: a need for speed? Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 42(24):1880–1887
Suh SP, Jo YH, Jeong HW et al (2017) Outcomes of revision surgery following instrumented posterolateral fusion in degenerative lumbar spinal stenosis: a comparative analysis between pseudarthrosis and adjacent segment disease. Asian Spine J 11(3):463–471
Paulozzi LJ, Jones CM, Mack KA, Rudd RA (2011) Vital signs: Overdoses of prescription opioid pain relievers, United States, 1999–2008. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 60:1487–1492
Rudd RA, Seth P, David F, Scholl L (2016) Increases in drug and opioid-involved overdose deaths—United States, 2010–2015. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 65:1445–1452
Meske DS, Lawal OD, Elder H et al (2018) Efficacy of opioids versus placebo in chronic pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of enriched enrollment randomized withdrawal trials. J Pain Res 11:923–934
Lötsch J, Geisslinger G (2011) Pharmacogenetics of new analgesics. Br J Pharmacol 163(3):447–460
Rosemary J, Adithan C (2007) The Pharmacogenetics of CYP2C9 and CYP2C19: Ethnic variation and clinical significance. Curr Clin Pharmacol 2(1):93–109
Smith HS (2009) Opioid metabolism. Mayo Clin Proc 84(7):613–624
Shmagel A, Ngo L, Ensrud K, Foley R (2018) Prescription medication use among community-based US adults with chronic low back pain: a cross-sectional population based study. J Pain 19(10):1104–1112
Altamura AC, Moliterno D, Paletta S et al (2013) Understanding the pharmacokinetics of anxiolytic drugs. Expert Opin Drug Metab Toxicol 9(4):423–440
Figueiras A, Estany-Gestal A, Aguirre C et al (2016) CYP2C9 variants as a risk modifier of NSAID-related gastrointestinal bleeding: a case-control study. Pharmacogenet Genom 26(2):66–73
Tremont-Lukats IW, Megeff C, Backonja MM (2000) Anticonvulsants for neuropathic pain syndromes: Mechanisms of action and place in therapy. Drugs 60(5):1029–1052
Faught E (2001) Pharmacokinetic considerations in prescribing antiepileptic drugs. Epilepsia 42(4):19–23
Bockbrader HN, Wesche D, Miller R et al (2010) A comparison of the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of pregabalin and gabapentin. Clin Pharmacokinet 49(10):661–669
Forrest JA, Clements JA, Prescott LF (1982) Clinical pharmacokinetics of paracetamol. Clin Pharmacokinet 7(2):93–107
Witenko C, Moorman-Li R, Motycka C et al (2014) Considerations for the appropriate use of skeletal muscle relaxants for the management of acute low back pain. P T 39(6):427–435
See S, Ginzburg R (2008) Skeletal muscle relaxants. Pharmacotherapy 28(2):207–213
Shu-Feng Z (2009) Polymorphism of human cytochrome P450 2D6 and its clinical significance. Clin Pharmacokinet 48(11):689–723
Ross JR, Riley J, Taegetmeyer AB et al (2008) Genetic variation and response to morphine in cancer patients: Catechol-O-methyltransferase and multidrug resistance-1 gene polymorphisms are associated with central side effects. Cancer 112(6):1390–1403
Sadhasivam S, Chidambaran V, Zhang X et al (2015) Opioid-induced respiratory depression: ABCB1 transporter pharmacogenetics. Pharmacogenomics J 15(2):119–126
Lassen D, Damkier P, Brøsen K (2015) The pharmacogenetics of tramadol. Clin Pharmacokinet 54(8):825–836
Stamer UM, Stüber F, Muders T, Musshoff F (2008) Respiratory depression with tramadol in a patient with renal impairment and CYP2D6 gene duplication. Anesth Analg 107(3):926–929
Crews KR, Gaedigk A, Dunnenberger HM et al (2014) Clinical pharmacogenetics implementation consortium guidelines for cytochrome P450 2D6 genotype and codeine therapy: 2014 update. Clin Pharmacol Ther 95(4):376–382
Naito T, Takashina Y, Yamamoto K et al (2011) CYP3A5*3 affects plasma disposition of noroxycodone and dose escalation in cancer patients receiving oxycodone. J Clin Pharmacol 51(11):1529–1538
Andersson T, Flockhart DA, Goldstein DB et al (2005) Drug-metabolizing enzymes: Evidence for clinical utility of pharmacogenomic tests. Clin Pharmacol Ther 78(6):559–581
Karolinska Institutet. The human cytochrome P450 (CYP) allele nomenclature Database Stockholm. http://www.cypalleles.ki.se/. Accessed 25 May 2021
Li-Wan-Po A, Girard T, Farndon P et al (2010) Pharmacogenetics of CYP2C19: Functional and clinical implications of a new variant CYP2C19*17. Br J Clin Pharmacol 69(3):222–230
Nakajima M, Yokoi T, Mizutani M et al (1999) Genetic polymorphism in the 5’-flanking region of human CYP1A2 gene: Effect on the CYP1A2 inducibility in humans. J Biochem 125:803–808
Fric M, Pfuhlmann B, Laux G et al (2008) The influence of smoking on the serum level of duloxetine. Pharmacopsychiatry 41:151–155
Rodriguez-Antona C, Sayi JG, Gustafsson LL et al (2005) Phenotypegenotype variability in the human CYP3A locus as assessed by the probe drug quinine and analyses of variant CYP3A4 alleles. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 338:299–305
Bijl MJ, Visser LE, Hofman A et al (2008) Influence of the CYP2D6*4 polymorphism on dose, switching and discontinuation of antidepressants. Br J Clin Pharmacol 65(4):558–564
Hicks JK, Bishop JR, Sangkuhl K et al (2015) Clinical Pharmacogenetics Implementation Consortium (CPIC) Guideline for CYP2D6 and CYP2C19 genotypes and dosing of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Clin Pharmacol Ther 98(2):127–134
Carbonell N, Verstuyft C, Massard J et al (2010) CYP2C9*3 loss-of-function allele is associated with acute upper gastrointestinal bleeding related to the use of NSAIDs other than aspirin. Clin Pharmacol Ther 87(6):693–698
Tanno LK, Kerr DS, dos Santos B et al (2015) The absence of CYP3A5*3 is a protective factor to anticonvulsants hypersensitivity reactions: a case-control study in Brazilian subjects. PLoS One 10(9):e0139861
Manuyakorn W, Siripool K, Kamchaisatian W et al (2013) Phenobarbital-induced severe cutaneous adverse drug reactions are associated with CYP2C19*2 in Thai children. Pediatr Allergy Immunol 24(3):299–303
López-García MA, Feria-Romero IA, Serrano H et al (2017) Influence of genetic variants of CYP2D6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19 and CYP3A4 on antiepileptic drug metabolism in pediatric patients with refractory epilepsy. Pharmacol Rep 69(3):504–511
Du Z, Jiao Y, Shi L (2016) Association of UGT2B7 and UGT1A4 polymorphisms with serum concentration of antiepileptic drugs in children. Med Sci Monit 22:4107–4113
Gulcebi MI, Ozkaynakcı A, Goren MZ et al (2011) The relationship between UGT1A4 polymorphism and serum concentration of lamotrigine in patients with epilepsy. Epilepsy Res 95(1–2):1–8
Raftogianis RB, Wood TC, Weinshilboum RM (1999) Human phenol sulfotransferases SULT1A2 and SULT1A1: Genetic polymorphisms, allozyme properties, and human liver genotypephenotype correlations. Biochem 58(4):605–616
Cottrill E, Pennington Z, Ahmed AK et al (2021) First report of pharmacogenomic profiling in an outpatient spine setting: preliminary results from a pilot study. World Neurosurg 145:e21–e31
Perera RS, Dissanayake PH, Senarath U et al (2017) Variants of ACAN are associated with severity of lumbar disc herniation in patients with chronic low back pain. PLoS One 12(7):e0181580
Liu S, Wu N, Liu J et al (2016) Association between ADAMTS-4 gene polymorphism and lumbar disc degeneration in Chinese Han population. J Orthop Res 34(5):860–864
Gruber HE, Sha W, Brouwer CR et al (2014) A novel catechol-O-methyltransferase variant associated with human disc degeneration. Int J Med Sci 11(7):748–753
Crow WT, Willis DR (2009) Estimating cost of care for patients with acute low back pain: a retrospective review of patient records. J Am Osteopath Assoc 109(4):229–233
Raman T, Nayar SK, Liu S et al (2018) Cost-effectiveness of primary and revision surgery for adult spinal deformity. Spine (Phila Pa 1976) 43(11):791–797
Brixner D, Biltaji E, Bress A et al (2016) The effect of pharmacogenetic profiling with a clinical decision support tool on healthcare resource utilization and estimated costs in the elderly exposed to polypharmacy. J Med Econ 19(3):213–228
McDonnell JM, Ahern DP, Ross TD et al (2020) Regenerative medicine modalities for the treatment of degenerative disk disease. Clin Spine Surg. (Epub ahead of print)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
Not applicable.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
McDonnell, J.M., Rigney, B., Storme, J. et al. Pharmacogenetic profiling and individualised therapy in the treatment of degenerative spinal conditions. Ir J Med Sci 192, 1215–1224 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-022-03112-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11845-022-03112-9