title: The role of germline variants in chemotherapy outcome in brain tumors: a systematic review of pharmacogenetic studies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This systematic review provides an overview of publications concerning pharmacogenetic research in pediatric patients with medulloblastoma and low-grade glioma.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three electronic databases searches including a manual search were performed to identify studies investigating potential interactions between germline variants and chemotherapy efficacy and toxicity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Out of 3570 citations, 21 studies were included. Outcomes include overall survival, progression-free survival and treatment-related adverse events (n = 5), cisplatin-induced ototoxicity (n = 13) and vincristine-induced neurotoxicity (n = 3).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This review shows that the number of pharmacogenetic studies in well-defined pediatric brain tumor cohorts is poor and studies often report conflicting results. Large-scale international collaborations allowing analysis of sufficiently sized cohorts are therefore very important for the future of personalized medicine in brain tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marije J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Klumpers
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Genetics, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marieke Jh
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Coenen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Corrie Em
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Gidding
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Oncology, Department of Pediatrics, Radboud university medical center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: D Maroeska Wm
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Te Loo
mesh_terms: D000072956:Adult Germline Stem Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D000071185:Pharmacogenomic Testing / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents
keywords: brain tumors; chemotherapy; pharmacogenetics