title: Influence of ethnicity on response to asthma drugs.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Understanding variability in the response to asthma medications is essential to ensure appropriate prescribing. Given that there are increased asthma treatment failures observed in ethnic minorities receiving asthma therapeutics, it is fundamental to understand the factors related to ethnicity that can modify the response to asthma therapy.
  
  
  METHODS
  Race/ethnicity is an important determinant of drug response and therefore contributes to interindividual variability. It is generally recognized that its effects on drug response are determined by both genetic and environmental factors to a varying extent, depending on the ethnic groups and probe drugs studied. Also, adherence to therapy can influence pharmacological response to asthma therapeutics.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Health-care professionals might never use the treatment in their patients irrespective of their ethnicity and thus inadvertently increase ethnic health inequality. However, our understanding of whether and/or how ethnicity influences pharmacological response to asthma therapeutics is still very scarce. A holistic, integrative systems biology approach that combines large-scale molecular profiling traits (e.g., transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic traits) and genetic variants could help to personalize the treatment of asthmatic patients regardless of race/ethnicity.
authors.affiliation: University of Rome Tor Vergata, Department of Systems Medicine, Respiratory Clinical Pharmacology Unit , Via Montpellier 1, 00133 Rome Italy mario.cazzola@uniroma2.it.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cazzola
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rogliani
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sanduzzi
authors.forename: Maria Gabriella
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Matera
mesh_terms: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology; D005006:Ethnicity; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006801:Humans; D055118:Medication Adherence; D044469:Racial Groups; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018927:Anti-Asthmatic Agents
keywords: asthma; asthma therapeutics; environmental factors; ethnicity; genetic factors; health care; race