PHARMACOGENETIC OF LIPID-LOWERING DRUGS

Abstract

Although, the pharmacological treatment for cholesterol reduction has been an advance in the cardiovascular and atherosclerosis treatment, the benefits are still limited due to interindividual variability in the response to these drugs. Disease severity, treatment adhesion, physiological conditions, biological conditions as well as the patient genetic profile could be cited as important factors for the evaluation of interindividual variability. In this context, three large groups of genes could be investigated: a) Genes that codify proteins involved in metabolism and/or transport of drugs, influencing the pharmacokinetics of these compounds. b) Genes that codify proteins involved in the mechanism of action and/or in the metabolic pathway where of drug action (pharmacodynamics). c) Genes that codify proteins involved in the direct development of the disease or in intermediate phenotypes. In this revision we discussed pharmacogenetic studies of the main lipid lowering drugs, and the expectations in relation to pharmacogenetics in order to help our prediction capacity in relation to treatment efficacy as well as the possibility to reduce adverse effects of these drugs. As soon as new studies would be performed and that most of the genetic variability associated with drug action would be disclosed, the great challenge would be the application of this knowledge in practical medicine.