Pharmacogenetics
Personalized drug therapy based on your genetic profile
Pharmacogenetics is the branch of science that studies the interactions between a person's genetic characteristics and drugs.
Genetic variations in the genetic structures involved in the metabolism and elimination of drugs affect the efficacy and side effects of drugs. Therefore, with pharmacogenetic tests performed before treatment, dose adjustments can be made and conditions such as hypersensitivity, non-response to treatment and significant side effects can be predicted in advance.
What are pharmacogenetic tests used for?
- To distinguish between patients who respond well to a drug and those who do not.
- To determine the appropriate drug dose planned for treatment.
- To take precautions in patients in whom drug concentrations can be predicted to reach toxic levels in plasma or tissues.
- To minimize drug-gene relationships and drug requirements that may fall outside standard practice.
- To take the necessary precautions if a patient has a family or personal history of unexpected outcomes with certain drugs.
- To provide lifelong genetic guidance about the interactions of drugs with each other when a patient receives more than one treatment.
In recent years, new drugs have been developed for cancer treatment, and these are mostly used in targeted therapy. Pharmacogenetic tests come to the forefront in determining in which patients these drugs, which provide significant benefits in cancer treatment, will be effective. Especially for breast, colon and lung cancers, gastrointestinal tumors and malignant melanoma, genetic testing before the use of newly developed drugs has become standard practice.