Genomic Strategies in Pharmacology of Asthma and Autoimmunity

Pharmacogenomics, a fascinating, emerging area of biomedical research is strongly influenced by growing availability of genomic databases, high-through-put genomic technologies, bioinformatic tools and artificial computational modeling approaches. Multinational clusters, such as the regional and internet-driven pharmaco-grids generated an entirely new environment for research and development in pharmacology. Although the field of pharmacogenomics is in its infancy, the promise of pharmacogenomics lies in its potential to predict genomic sources of interindividual variability in drug response (both efficacy and toxicity), thus allowing individualization of therapy to maximize effectiveness and minimize risk. Thus, pharmacogenomics holds the promise for individualized medicine adapted to each person's own genetic makeup. Environmental factors including diet, age, and lifestyle as well as infection can influence a person's response to medicines, but understanding an individual's genetic background is thought to be the key to creating personalized drugs with greater efficacy and safety. Similar to other biomedical fields, in allergic and autoimmune diseases pharmacogenomics combines traditional pharmaceutical sciences such as biochemistry with annotated knowledge of genes, proteins, and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP). One of the major challenges now are developing and applying the statistical and computational capacity to store, manage, analyze and interpret the wealth of data being generated. This review summarizes the recent pharmacogenomic trends in inflammatory diseases with particular attention to autoimmune conditions and asthma.