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Genetic literacy series: clinical application of pharmacogenetics for adverse reactions to antiepileptic drugs. An ILAE Commission Review Volume 21, issue 4, August 2019

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Authors
Yuwu Jiang and the ILAE Genetics Commission# 1 *
1 Department of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, China
2 Department of Neurology, National Neuroscience Institute, Singapore
3 Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore
* Correspondence: Yuwu Jiang Department of Pediatrics, Peking University First Hospital, No.1 Xi’an Men Street, West District, Beijing 100034, China
a Authors contributed equally

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Adverse drug reactions are a leading cause of treatment failure with antiepileptic drugs. Adverse drug reactions are also a major source of morbidity and mortality, and a substantial burden on the use and costs of health care. Recent pharmacogenetic studies have shown that some adverse drug reactions are associated with genetic variants, which has changed how we select antiepileptic drugs for individual patients. This article, beginning with a case of an adverse drug reaction induced by carbamazepine, will answer four key questions about pharmacogenetics of adverse drug reactions: (1) What types of adverse drug reactions can be caused by antiepileptic drugs? (2) What is pharmacogenetics? (3) How does pharmacogenetics play a role in the adverse drug reactions of antiepileptic drugs? and (4) How do we apply pharmacogenetic testing in clinical practice? Our goal is to increase awareness of the contributions of genetic variation to adverse drug reactions of antiepileptic drugs.