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Pharmacogenomics—Is there a role in antibiotic therapy?

The Pharmacogenomics Journal volume 2, pages 14–16 (2002)Cite this article

In its purest form, pharmacogenomics is defined as the functional linkage of the science of human pharmacology, toxicology and genomics. This link is somewhat artificial, and in its current usage, pharmacogenomics implies an association of some pharmacological agent with measurable host responses and possibly adverse events that vary with the host's repertoire of gene polymorphisms.1 Several of the most obvious and well-discussed areas of pharmacogenomics potential have been oncology, CNS disorders, and inflammation, where a pattern of gene expression (up- or down-regulation) may be monitored in response to a given pharmacological agent. The ultimate promise of pharmacogenomics is of predictable outcomes from a study of human genomes and their responses ex vivo to a particular pharmacological agent.2,3

Treatment of infectious diseases is a bit of a therapeutic outlier. Ideally, one desires an agent that has no discernible effects on the host of an infection, while having lethal effects on the invading organism. Neither of these ideals is ever achieved. When one thinks of pharmacogenomics in infectious diseases, it is often in the context of drug effects (P450 interactions, etc) and seldom in terms of the microbial population that the drug affects. Usually this is couched in terms of a decision in prescribing of a drug to which the patient may be allergic or prescribing a drug to which the patient may have an adverse response due to aberrant metabolism because of, eg, polymorphic variations in the expression of the repertoire of human cytochromes. If a pharmacogenetic, or pharmacogenomic evaluation was somehow instantaneously possible, the drug of choice would be matched against the maximum compatibility of the host and maximal effect on the infectious agent.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Wallingford, CT, USA

    D B Davison & M Pucci

  2. Pfizer Global Research & Development, Groton, CT, USA

    T J Dougherty

  3. Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ, USA

    J F Barrett

Authors
  1. D B Davison
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  2. T J Dougherty
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  3. J F Barrett
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  4. M Pucci
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Correspondence to D B Davison.

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Davison, D., Dougherty, T., Barrett, J. et al. Pharmacogenomics—Is there a role in antibiotic therapy?. Pharmacogenomics J 2, 14–16 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.tpj.6500064

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