Pharmacogenomics and beyond! Customized pharmacotherapy for solid organ transplant recipients

Solid organ transplant recipients are reliant on immunosuppressive drugs, which have a narrow therapeutic index, and are concurrently vulnerable to adverse drug events due to comorbidity burden and the complexity of their medication regimens. Urgent management of post-transplant complications often falls to the generalist clinician or critical care specialist. The purpose of this narrative review is to discuss innovations and bedside applications of pharmacogenomics and therapeutic drug monitoring applied to immunosuppression and agents frequently encountered in transplant recipients. Medication formulations will be given specific attention, as interchange is frequently required in the acute care setting. Bioassays quantifying immune system activity will be described with practical applications. A structured approach to addressing drug-drug, drug-gene, and drug-drug-gene interactions will be modeled using a case-based approach synthesizing pharmacogenomics, therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamic principles.