Current Pharmacogenomics - Volume 4, Issue 4, 2006

Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by compromised bone strength predisposing a person to an in-creased risk of fracture. The overall rate of osteoporosis is increasing annually around the world, especially among the elderly people, resulting in heavier social-economic burden. Till now, certain anti-osteoporosis medications have been ap-plied to prevent and/or treat osteoporosis by the mechanism of either decreas Read More

Pharmacogenomic studies in the field of colorectal cancer have recently emerged as tools to benefit patients in receiving tailored chemotherapy and potentially improved therapeutic benefit. 5-fluorouracil/oxalplatin combination che-motherapy has been approved in the United States and Europe for the treatment of advanced colorectal cancer. However, overall efficacy may be compromised by dose-limiting toxicity and va Read More

Pharmacogenetics represents the study of variability in drug response due to genetic variations. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD, i.e. primarily Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis) is characterized by a chronic or relapsing in-flammation of the digestive tract. The thiopurines 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and azathioprine (AZA), an imidazol deriva-tive and pro-drug of 6-MP, are widely used in IBD, particularly in Croh Read More

The management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) remains challenging due to the varied clinical manifes-tations of Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). The development of new modalities in therapy is promising, with immunomodulator-based approaches rising to a more prominent position in our armamentarium. Mutations in a vari-ety of genes have been shown to be associated with IBD and specific phe Read More

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic inflammatory disorder that mainly affects the joints. When left un-treated, the disease can be aggressive resulting in irreversible joint damage with high morbidity and mortality. Disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDS) are the cornerstones of treatment in RA. In recent times, a new class of dis-ease-modifying medications, the biologics, has been added to the therapeutic arma Read More

Pharmacogenomics holds the promise that drugs might one day be tailor-made for individuals and adapted to each person's own genetic makeup. The field of pharmacogenomics in regards to severe infections is a growing and im-portant field in modern medicine. Severe infections, like severe community acquired pneumonia (CAP) or sepsis have a great impact in morbidity and mortality and consume a great amount of sanitar Read More

Members of the ATP binding cassette transporter family are responsible for the cellular efflux of a broad range of endogenous compounds and xenobiotics in multiple tissues. The ABCG2 (ABCP, BCRP, MXR) protein, which is highly expressed in the gastrointestinal tract and liver as well as numerous multi-drug resistant cancer cells, is considered to be of particular importance in governing drug absorption, elimination and c Read More

The inter-individual and inter-ethnic variations in phase I enzyme activity is largely attributed to gene poly-morphisms. The distribution and clinical consequences of these variations have been extensively studied in Africans, Asians, and Caucasians. However, information is still lacking regarding the frequency and the impact of these variations on xenobiotic metabolism and disease processes in Mexican Americans. Therefore, thi Read More