Cancer pharmacogenetics: Polymorphisms, pathways and beyond

cancer. Pharmacogenetics aims to use knowledge of these variations to 'tailor' therapy for improved response and reduced toxicity. Most research so far has focused on single polymorphisms. A more comprehensive approach to predict treatment response will be to consider genetic variation in entire biological and pharmacological pathways. Of particular relevance to cancer chemotherapy is folate metabolism, which is the target of methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil. Furthermore, efforts have begun to construct pathways of genes that have pharmacological relevance for individual chemotherapeutic agents. Together, these pathway strategies offer a higher likelihood of achieving the promise of genetically guided cancer therapy.