Pharmacogenomics in dermatology: Taking patient treatment to the next level

The notion of treating the patient, and not the particular disease, has been emphasized by physicians for some time. In the past decade, this idea advanced with the human genome project, and has been taken further with the advent of personalized dermatology, or using genetics to drive pharmacological treatment. For example, recent melanoma treatment trials focus entirely on the genetic makeup of the individual. Although some dermatological conditions such as melanoma are being targeted with gene-specific therapy, the idea of choosing a drug based on the genetic makeup to treat other dermatologic conditions might be relevant, since it may increase drug efficacy or decrease adverse drug events. This concept of pharmacogenomics could be applied throughout the field of dermatology. Online libraries have been developed to guide drug efficacy, dose prediction and adverse events. We provide a list of current systemic dermatologic drugs in which the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics have been studied. It would be beneficial to guide patient treatment with these drugs, if we can better understand their pharmacogenomics.