Integration of pharmacogenomic and pharmacomicrobiomic data for personalized medicine

Abstract

Adverse drug reaction (ADR) is quite common and poses a huge medical and economic burden all over the world. Understanding the role of genetic variant and microbes in drug response and using this knowledge in prescribing drugs will help to reduce ADR and improve drug efficacy. We have collected pharmacogenomic and pharmacomicrobiomics data currently available for several drugs. We found both the associated genetic variants and microbes for only five drugs (Fluorouracil, Irinotecan, Methotrexate, Ribavirin, Warfarin). Among them, 14 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were found to be associated with response to fluorouracil, 6 with Ribavirin, 8 with warfarin, 1 with irinotecan, and 3 with methotrexate. Allelic distribution shows significant differences among different populations and African population have lower extent of linkage disequilibrium than non‐Africans. Various microbial species are associated with either increasing or decreasing drug effectivity or toxicity of those drugs. This study indicates a great potential if these two fields are explored more and used in combination for drug therapy.