Pharmacogenomics of Neurodegenerative Diseases: Roles in Personalized Medicines

Pharmacogenomics is the study of the role of genetic variations in drug response. In the study of pharmacogenomics, one can relate variations in drug exposure and/or drug response (pharmacology) to the variations in genes (genomics). An administered drug may fail to work for one patient, but show the expected result for another. In some cases, a drug may work well for a larger group of patients while causing a subset of patients to experience unexpected or severe side effects. These adverse drug reactions can be harmful and sometimes deadly. Factors such as the environment, diet, age, lifestyle, and comorbid conditions all may influence the individual’s response to drugs. Conventional drug treatments involve a one-size-fits-all approach which can be beneficial for some patients but not for others. Personalized medicine takes into account differences in patient’s genetic makeup and environment to customize patient-specific treatment. Each is covered in this chapter with an eye toward how best to administer drugs to individual patients.