Impact of genomics on therapeutic drug development

✍ Scribed by Giulia C. Kennedy

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 156 KB
• Volume: 41
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0272-4391
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-2299(199707/08)41:3/4<112::aid-ddr2>3.0.co;2-o

✦ Synopsis

Genomics is defined as a set of related technologies which are focused on the discovery of genes implicated in human disease. Although many of the estimated 100,000 genes in the human genome have been at least partially identified by nucleotide sequence, elucidation of biological function has been achieved for only a small percentage of these. An even smaller percentage of genes discovered by these methodologies have become valid therapeutic drug development candidates. This review discusses the various genomics technologies, their strengths and weaknesses, and their likelihood of yielding therapeutic drugs in the near future. Emerging advances in microchip technology have made the resequencing of entire genomes for polymorphism analysis an achievable goal in the near future. This ''vertical'' sequencing should usher in the era of a new discipline we name "reverse pharmacogenetics" in which DNA sequence polymorphisms are uncovered at a rate much faster than elucidation of their physiological functions. It is anticipated that detection of human polymorphisms and the massive amount of genotype data available on the human population will result in efforts to stratify patient populations, so that effective therapeutics can be "tailored" to patients who are likely to respond. Genotype information on patients who do not respond to certain drugs or therapies will also likely lead to basic scientific research aimed at elucidating molecular mechanisms for nonresponse and, ultimately, to the discovery of new therapies for these populations. Drug