ABSTRACT
Respiratory disease pharmacogenetics has been one of the more widely studied disease
areas, although almost all studies to date have been in asthma or examined bronchodilator
responses in populations with airflow obstruction. Few drugs used in the management of
respiratory disease have narrow therapeutic windows (theophylline being an obvious
exception), and hence the majority of studies have concentrated on examining pharmaco-
dynamic rather than pharmacokinetic variables. To date there have been no studies
examining pharmacogenetic effects in the management of interstitial lung diseases,
although with increasing use of pharmacogenomic approaches (e.g., expression profiling)
in these conditions it is likely that genetic factors, which may predict treatment response
will become available. Therefore, this chapter will deal predominantly with the potential
role of genetic variability in the key respiratory drug targets used in the management of
airflow obstruction in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).
