Pharmacogenomics, pharmacoproteomics, and pharmacometabolomics and personalized medicine: An overview

Abstract

The mapping of the human genome has been an important milestone in understanding the interindividual differences in genetic predisposition to diseases and individuals’ responsiveness to drugs. These factors have now begun to revolutionize the clinical landscape with new therapeutic strategies defined as “personalized medicine.” Personalized medicine is believed to transform the traditional “one size fits all” model of medicine by applying individual gene-based information to better manage a patient’s disease or predisposition toward a disease and to tailor strategies for the prevention and treatment of diseases. In this context, recent explosion in the omics tools and technologies is believed to generate valuable pharmacogenomic, proteomic, and metabolic information of patients which would serve as potential accelerating factors for the development of personalized medicine. Personalized medicine has the ability to change the overall landscape of medicine from diagnosis and treatment to prevention. The success of personalized therapy in the future will depend on scientific advances in pharmacogenomics, proteomics, and metabolics and on a systems biology approach in the diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases. This chapter discusses the basic concepts and advancements in the fields of pharmacogenomics, pharmacoproteomics, and pharmacometabolomics and their applications in personalized medicine.