How your genes influence what medicines are right for you

Most people have a preference because they have learned over time that one works better than the other at relieving their pain.



This type of variability from person to person is true for nearly every medication, whether it requires a prescription or can be purchased over the counter.

Pharmacists, physicians and researchers have tried for decades to understand why the same medication, at the same dose, can work well for some people but not for others, or why some people need higher or lower doses of the same drug, or why some people have side effects, while others do not.

Many factors contribute to these differences in how people respond to the same medication, including age, other medications they may be taking, kidney function and cigarette smoking, to name a few. But it’s become increasingly clear that genetics can also be an important factor.

Genes influence how well drugs work

Understanding how these genetic differences work means that physicians can take a more personalized approach to selecting the right medication and dosage for each individual.

This is called pharmacogenetics, and pharmacogenetic tests to guide use of certain medications are becoming increasingly common.

This kind of personalized treatment is an example of what is called precision medicine, which is being touted as an important part of the future of health care.

Genes influence how well your liver breaks down medicine

Today the most frequently used tests looks for variations (also called polymorphisms) in the genes that carry instructions for making the enzymes in the liver that metabolize (break down) drugs.

For drugs that are already in an active form which means that the drug has immediate effect on the body enzymes in the liver break the drug down to make it inactive, so the body can then discard it.

When the enzyme in the liver that breaks down a particular drug does not work properly due to a genetic variation, then the body can’t get rid of the active drug effectively. That can lead to too much drug in the body, which can in turn lead to serious side effects.

Other drugs are consumed in a form that is inactive, and are broken down in the liver into their active form. The liver enzymes that break the drug down are critical to making it work.

For these medications, when the liver enzyme does not work properly because of a gene variation, the drug cannot be converted into its active form.

Differences in how enzymes break down drugs can mean that people need different doses of a particular drug to achieve the same effect, or that some drugs might not be as effective for them.

And many of these gene variations are very common in the general population and can affect decisions about the right drug or right drug dose in several ways.

Using gene variations to choose the right medication

Children with leukemia are commonly tested for a gene variation for the enzyme that breaks down drugs called thiopurines. These drugs are commonly used to treat childhood leukemia, and are consumed in an active form. CONTINUE READING

CONVERSATION.COM