Pharmacogenetics in Cancer Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Pharmacogenetics in Cancer - Essay Example Various problems have been realized during the cancer therapy using the conventional chemotherapy. This is because to attain reasonable efficacy, a considerable degree of toxicity is needed and hence severe side-effects. Most oncologists are faced with the major challenge of the variability of the treatment responses as well as narrow therapeutic index for the anticancer drugs. Therefore, there is no doubt that the developments in molecular biology and molecular genetics, and of the associated methods have had considerable effects on the comprehension of drug action. Therefore, drawing on a variety of sources the paper will discuss pharmacogenetics in cancer. Cancer is a very unusual disease because it emanates from the accumulation of several gene mutations within the cell, thus disrupting normal cellular function as well as normal checks. Therefore, cancer cells have definite genetic profiles. As result, pharmacogenetics is helpful as a cancer therapeutic since is focuses on the genetic profiles and a person’s interaction with the drug. Pharmacogenetics can be described as the interaction between the drug and individual traits, and is very helpful in cancer therapeutics. Therefore, it is based on the clinical efficacy observations as well as tolerability profile of a drug in a person (Licinio and Wong 129). The most common challenge in cancer treatment is the related to the anticancer drugs. The pharmacogenetics can assist in the discovery, development, and individualization of the anticancer drugs.