ABSTRACT
The.immediate.aim.of.pharmacogenomics.is.to.identify.genes.that.determine.differences. in. individual. responses. to.particular.drugs..The. longer-term.goal.of. this. emerging.discipline.is. to.advance.beyond.the.current.approach.to.drug.therapy.to. more.individualized.approaches..Drugs.that.are.more.suited.to.the.molecular.characteristics.of. individual.patients.should.have.greater.efficacy.and.reduced.toxicity. [1-3]..Although.individual.human.genomes.are.99.9%.identical,.the.0.1%.difference. predicts.as.many.as.3.million.polymorphisms,.including.substitutions,.deletions,.and. insertions.[4]..Some.of.these.polymorphisms.affect.protein.expression.or.function,. and.may.lead.to.disease.or.altered.drug.response..Newly.available.compilations.of. human. genome. sequence. polymorphisms,. particularly. single-nucleotide. polymorphisms.(SNPs),.can.provide.markers.associated.with.characteristic.genotypes.and. potentially. identify. genes. directly. responsible. for. the. individual. drug. responses. [5-10].. Initial. optimism. about. the. ability. of. pharmacogenomics. to. speed. the.
