"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.

PharmGKB Methylene Blue Pathway, PD

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.