Genetic diversity and new therapeutic concepts

Abstract

The differences in medicinal drug responses among individuals had been known for quite some time. Some patients exhibit a life-threatening adverse reaction while others fail to show an expected therapeutic effect. Intermediate responses between the above two extreme cases are also known. In fact, it has been recently reported that approximately 100,000 deaths and more than 2 million hospitalizations annually in the United States are due to properly prescribed medications. This interindividual variability could be due in part to genetically determined characteristics of target genes or drug metabolizing enzymes. This has now been substantiated by a variety of studies. We know that ''one size fits all'' is not correct. Therefore, the application of pharmacogenetic concepts to clinical practice is an excellent goal in the postgenomic era. The successful completion of the human genome project provided necessary molecular tools, such as high-throughput SNP genotyping, HapMap, and microarray, that can be applied to develop proper therapeutic options for individuals. Recently, there have been considerable scientific, corporate, and policy interest in pharmacotherapy. However, identification of causal variations in a target gene is only a starting point, and the progress in this rapidly developing field is slower than expected. One major drawback could be due to the multigene determinant of drug response that requires a genome-wide screening. Additionally, application of pharmacogenetic knowledge into clinical practice requires a high level of accuracy, precision (risk/benefit ratio), and strict regulations. This is because the pharmacogenetic approach raises several ethical, moral, and legal questions. It is also necessary that both health professionals and the general public must be urgently educated. Despite these limitations, translation of pharmacogenomic data into clinical practice would certainly provide better opportunities to increase the safety and efficacy of medicine in the future.

SNPs in disease gene mapping, medicinal drug development and evolution

“…Haplotype diversity may be generated by new SNP alleles. In C, two horizontal lines denote a pair of homologous genes and the symbol X indicates polymorphism in the gene have undertaken massive efforts to develop high-throughput SNP genotyping methods over the past 20 years (reviewed in Shastry 2002Shastry , 2005. As a result of these efforts, a large collection of SNPs is now available from the human genome project (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/SNP/snp_summary.…”

Genetic diversity and medicinal drug response in eye care

“…In each and every case, it becomes a challenge for clinicians to work out a dosage regimen for an individual patient. This inter-individual variation in drug response may be due to multiple factors, including the genetic difference between two individuals [reviewed in references [3][4][5][6][7]. It is because of this reason that two related fields, namely pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics, have undertaken massive studies on the genetic personalization of drug response [8].…”

Design and Optimization of a Chronotherapeutic Dosage Form for Treatment of Nocturnal Acid Breakthrough

“…Chrono-prevention is defined as the treatment methodology in which the preventive cure of a pathological state with circadian responsiveness is undertaken by making use of the dosage forms or the drug delivering agents that delivers the drug at the optimal receptor sites at a time before the actual symptoms of the pathological discomfort actually crops [1][2][3][4]. Various disease states like ulcer, asthma, heart attacks, Nocturnal Acid Breakthrough (NAB), arthritis have been reported to bear circadian responsiveness [5][6][7].…”