Pharmacogenomics of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters: implications for cancer therapy

The new era of personalized medicine, which integrates the uniqueness of an individual with respect to the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of a drug, holds promise as a means to provide greater safety and efficacy in drug design and development. Personalized medicine is particularly important in oncology, whereby most clinically used anticancer drugs have a narrow therapeutic window and exhibit a large interindividual pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic variability. This variability can be explained, at least in part, by genetic variations in the genes encoding drug metabolizing enzymes, transporters, or drug targets. Understanding of how genetic variations influence drug disposition and action could help in tailoring cancer therapy based on individual’s genetic makeup. This review focuses on the pharmacogenomics of drug metabolizing enzymes and drug transporters, with a particular highlight of examples whereby genetic variations in the metabolizing enzymes and transporters influence the pharmacokinetics and/or response of chemotherapeutic agents.