A Brief Outlook on Pharmacogenetics (PGx): Focus in MicroRNAs (miRNAs) and Cancer Stem Cells (CSCs)

Abstract

It has been known that there are differences in response to medications both in terms of clinical activity and side effects. Among all influencing factors, genetic variation has been considered to play a crucial part. By genetic investigation, the differences in drug metabolism, transport and target could be disclosed. Termed as “pharmacogenetics (PGx)”, that focuses on the variants within one or more candidate genes. Genetic tests have been started for screening polymorphisms prior to drug prescription, moreover many biomarkers were developed in oncology. Recent PGx investigations have been conducted to identify mRNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) and other downstream signals that are affected by variation in genes that might cause drug response variability. Another intriguing study related to PGx in cancer stem cells (CSCs) has recently aroused. CSC shows more resistant behavior to drug. CSCs are subpopulation of cells, which share some same markers with stem cells. CSC can induce specific signal transduction pathways. Variation in genes affect CSCs activity are generally neglected in the past PGx studies. This could be one of the explanation why past PGx studies in cancer cell do not achieve optimal clinical outcome. Keywords : pharmacogenetics, pharmacogenomics, microRNAs, cancer stem cells