SNPs and pharmacogenomics.

Abstract

Pharmacogenomics, the study of the association between genetics and drug response, is a rapidly growing field in human genetics. At a recent IBC Life Sciences conference in London, ‘SNPs and Pharmacogenomics,’ speakers emphasized the potential of pharmacogenomics to revolutionize traditional drug discovery and development processes. Common themes of the conference were the ability of pharmacogenomics to lead to an increased understanding of the molecular basis of disease and enable the discovery, development and delivery of safer and more effective treatments. Inherited differences in drug targets, as well as polymorphisms in genes with a role in drug metabolism and disposition, each have an influence on the efficacy and safety of therapeutics. Speakers also described the opportunities and challenges facing pharmacogenomics and the technical and educational obstacles that must be overcome in order to realize the promise of personalized medicine. Systematic identification of SNPs, the most common type of human genetic variation, is providing the markers that may be used to elucidate the basis of inter-individual variation in drug response. The conference presented an opportunity for providers of highthroughput SNP genotyping technologies to describe how their platforms, in combination with gene expression and population studies, are facilitating the molecular characterization of complex diseases. SNPs have a prominent role in the progress of pharmacogenomics due to their high prevalence rate and ease of analysis [1]. Dr Arthur Holden (Chairman, The SNP Consortium [TSC] [101]), addressing the conference from the US, summarized the current status and activities of the consortium. To date, the TSC has contributed ~ 1.8 million publicly available SNPs towards the goal of defining a high quality SNP map for full genome association and haplotyping studies. Dr Holden believes that the next challenges are to: