title: Pharmacogenetics of analgesic drugs.
abstract: • Individual variability in pain perception and differences in the efficacy of analgesic drugs are complex phenomena and are partly genetically predetermined. • Analgesics act in various ways on the peripheral and central pain pathways and are regarded as one of the most valuable but equally dangerous groups of medications. • While pharmacokinetic properties of drugs, metabolism in particular, have been scrutinised by genotype-phenotype correlation studies, the clinical significance of inherited variants in genes governing pharmacodynamics of analgesics remains largely unexplored (apart from the µ-opioid receptor). • Lack of replication of the findings from one study to another makes meaningful personalised analgesic regime still a distant future. • This narrative review will focus on findings related to pharmacogenetics of commonly used analgesic medications and highlight authors' views on future clinical implications of pharmacogenetics in the context of pharmacological treatment of chronic pain.
authors.affiliation: UCL Centre for Anaesthesia, Critical Care & Pain Medicine, London, UK ; Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: Roman
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Cregg
authors.affiliation: The Pinn Medical Centre, Middlesex, UK.
authors.forename: Giovanna
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Russo
authors.affiliation: Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gubbay
authors.affiliation: Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
authors.forename: Ruth
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Branford
authors.affiliation: Imperial College London, London, UK.
authors.forename: Hiroe
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sato
keywords: Pharmacogenetics; analgesics; genetic association studies; genetic screening; inter-individual variability; metabolism; pain; pain perception; pharmacodynamics; pharmacogenomics; pharmacokinetics; phenotype; polymorphism; single-nucleotide polymorphism