Understanding Pharmacogenomics | Cancer.Net

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The field of pharmacogenomics, also called pharmacogenetics, studies how our inherited genes affect the way we respond to drugs. The way our bodies process and handle drugs can make these drugs more or less effective, or more or less safe. A drug may respond differently in one person than another person taking the identical drug for the same condition. Also, some people may experience severe side effects from a drug, while others do not.

Pharmacogenomics now has limited use in the treatment of people with cancer, but its growth may lead to the development of more tests that doctors may give patients before starting a drug therapy. These tests are designed to analyze a patient’s genetic content to help predict whether a drug and its dosage will be safe and effective.

Many drugs that treat cancer are not fully active in the form in which they are given. They need to be “turned on,” or activated, by enzymes (proteins that speed up chemical reactions in the body) to help treat the cancer. Each person inherits variations in these enzymes that affect how fast or slow these drugs are converted. If a person’s genes are “slow metabolizers,” or slow to break down the drug, then the body doesn’t make enough active form of the drug, and the treatment may not work as well. Drugs also need to be “turned off,” or deactivated, after the cancer is treated to limit exposure to healthy tissues and reduce side effects. If a person’s enzymes that deactivate drugs are “slow metabolizers,” then very high levels of the unconverted drug remain in the body for a long time and can increase the side effects of the drug.

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Kathy