"Jack of all trades" drug pathway published

Methylene blue has many clinical uses including the treatment of methemoglobinemia and malaria, as a diagnostic dye and even has potential as a therapy for Alzheimer's disease.

A PharmGKB summary combining the methylene blue pharmacodynamics pathway with the oxidative stress regulatory and pentose phosphate pathways in red blood blood cells has been published in PG&G and is now available to read online.

Together the pathways help explain why people with G6PD deficiency (caused by underlying genetic variants) are more susceptible to drug-induced hemolysis, and why methemoglobinemia treatment with methylene blue is not effective in these individuals.    

Read the article:
PharmGKB summary: methylene blue pathway.

McDonagh EM, Bautista JM, Youngster I, Altman RB, Klein TE.
Pharmacogenet Genomics. 2013 Sep;23(9):498-508.