title: [Pharmacogenetics in oncology].
abstract: Pharmacogenetics studies the relationship between genetic polymorphisms and individual responses to drugs. In recent years, there has been a great progress in our knowledge of the effects of drug-metabolizing enzymes and molecular target genetic polymorfisms on cancer chemotherapy. Pharmacogenetics focuses on the prediction of drug efficacy and toxicity based on a patient's genetic profile with routinely applicable genetic tests to select the most appropriate medication at optimal doses for each individual patient. Two years ago the FDA approved one genetic test to detect patients with increased risk of severe toxicity associated with irinotecan therapy. There have also been commercialized genetic chips to genotyping two cytochrome P450 enzymes at the same time. Prospectively, stratifying patients based on genotype may identify subpopulations likely to experience severe toxicity or to derive benefit from a particular treatment strategy, helping us move toward the ultimate goal of individualized therapy. In this review, we describe the clinical effects of polymorphisms that may influence cancer chemotherapy.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Farmacia, Hospital Universitario de Salamanca, Salamanca, España. dmorang@usal.es
authors.forename: Dominica
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Morán González
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiménez Cabrera
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Domínguez-Gil Hurlé
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents