Current Pharmacogenomics and Personalized Medicine (Formerly Current Pharmacogenomics) - Volume 6, Issue 2, 2008

Does the inclusion of children in pharmacogenomic research raise new ethical issues? Through an exploration of the relevant laws, policies, guidelines and literature, we have identified five areas of concern and assessed their potential impact. These include (1) the difficulty of assessing risk and the ethics of invasive sampling, (2) the consent and assent process, (3) the circumstances under which and to whom the results Read More

Adenocarcinomas of the upper gastrointestinal tract are characterized by a high mortality rate. Various multimodal therapy regimens are used to improve the patient's prognosis, but the majority of patients does not respond to treatment. Thus, the identification of biomarkers that could predict response is highly demanding. The chemotherapeutic regimens most commonly used for the treatment of adenocarcinomas of t Read More

Endotoxemia caused by Gram-negative bacteria can result in sepsis and organ dysfunction, which includes kidney damage and renal failure. Genetic polymorphisms in cytokine-encoding genes contribute to individual variance in inflammatory responses and have been postulated as being associated with an increased risk for cytokine-mediated disorders, such as sepsis-induced acute renal failure. There is a growing body of Read More

US Senator Barack Obama recently proposed the Genomics and Personalized Medicine Act of 2006, which should it be enacted, would establish a Genomics and Personalized Medicine Interagency Working Group to coordinate personalized medicine efforts, fund genomics research to improve drug safety and establish a US Biobanking Research Initiative similar to efforts deployed in other countries. But what impact could perso Read More

Pharmacogenomics is an evolving research discipline within ophthalmology. An early application appears to involve open-angle glaucoma, a common cause of worldwide preventable blindness. Primary open-angle glaucoma is primarily treated with medications, and the two most common classes of drugs are β-adrenergic receptor antagonists and prostaglandin analogs. One small clinical trial has documented a p Read More

Mood disorders, such as major depressive disorder and bipolar disorder, are common, severe and chronic psychiatric diseases. There is an increasing recognition that the pathophysiology of mood disorders could be the result of dysregulation of synaptic plasticity with alterations in the levels of neurotrophins. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), the most abundant neurotrophin in the brain, has been investigated e Read More

Inter-individual variations in response to pharmacotherapy such as adverse effects, treatment resistance and toxicities affect all patient populations. Multidrug resistance associated proteins (MRPs) work as efflux pumps for many xenobiotics and endogenous substances and hence, can affect the drug concentration at the target site which governs therapeutic response. Genetic polymorphisms of the MRPs can lead t Read More