Gene Technology

Abstract

Spotlights on Pharmacogenetics of Schizophrenia and Depressed Mood

Sahar Mohamed Kamal and Shams El Dine

Pharmacogenetics is the study of the genetic basis for variation in drug response, which examines the single gene interactions with drugs. This important branch of pharmacology has two main aspects: Identifying specific genes and gene products associated with various Identifying genes and allelic variants of genes that leads to variability in drug response There is an important issue in pharmacogentics which is “polymorphism”: it is a variation in the DNA sequence that is present at an allele frequency of 1% or greater in a population. It is most commonly in the form of Single base pair substitutions named Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs), the location or the number of repeats, deletions, or critical splice sites. The interfaces between genetics and drug metabolism have recently been the subjects of intense research activity. Pharmacogenomics uses molecular biological techniques to study genes in relation to drug therapy for specific diseases in order to identify new treatments. Pharmacogenetics investigates the genetic basis for differences in individual responses to drugs with regard to their metabolism and transport in the body. It involves the role of many drugs, acting on different body systems, in the development of genetic polymorphism especially that responsible for metabolising enzyme as cytochrome p450 isozymes that affect their abilities in either induction or inhibition of drug metabolism and elimination.