Personalized Medicine of Urate-Lowering Therapy for Gout

Abstract

Gout is a common and complex form of arthritis that is characterized with hyperuricaemia. It is required urate-lowering therapy (ULT) for lifelong management. ULT includes decreasing uric acid product in serum, increasing renal urate excretion and promoting uric acid to allantoin for excretion. Whole genome association studies in gout identified more than 40 genetic loci that influenced the serum uric acid levels. Most associated genes were found to affect renal urate excretion. Pharmacogenetics and pharmacogenomics approaches on ULT had revealed several genes that underlined the effectiveness and the adverse events of medications for gout. Together with the researches on epigenetic factors such as DNA methylations, miRNAs; and the discovery of environmental factors such as microbiota and metabolites, the current progress provides the opportunities for personalized management of ULT for treating hyperuricaemia and gout.