Pharmacogenomics Leveraging “omics” to Improve Treatment Response

Pharmacogenomics Leveraging “omics” to Improve Treatment Response

Pharmacogenomics is relevant worldwide for modern therapeutics and yet needs further uptake in developing countries. There is paucity of studies with a naturalistic design in real-life clinical practice in patients with comorbidities and multiple drug treatments. To evaluate the role and impact of host underlying genetics on treatment response, different approaches are used depending on existing levels of understanding on the functional significance of genetic variants in question. This lecture showcases the work done pharmacogenomics research and how this has occurred in Africa and how “omics” is being leveraged. Our approach focuses on common disease conditions and commonly used medications including herbal medicinal plants.

We report on antiretroviral therapy and other treatments alter microRNA expression signatures and expression of drug-metabolizing enzyme genes, in vitro. These data point to several important clinical implications through changes in drug/drug interaction risks and achieving optimal therapeutics.  Thus, differential expression of microRNAs after treatment with EFV and RMP adds another layer of complexity that should be incorporated in pharmacogenomic algorithms to render drug response more predictable. The lecture will reflect also on pharmacogenomics of herbal medicines, and interaction with conventional drugs.  There is a trend of important genes and their variants coming being prominent biomarkers for responses for commonly used drugs. The use of a wholistic approach in pharmacogenomics research translation that transcends disciplinary boundaries incorporating different “omics” ultimately leading to precision medicine.

Collet Dandara

Professor Collet Dandara is currently serving as Deputy Dean of Postgraduate Education in the Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Cape Town. He is also a Director of the SAMRC/UCT Platform for Pharmacogenomics Research and Translation Unit (PREMED) and is a professor of human genomics. Collet Dandara is principal investigator of the pharmacogenomics & drug metabolism research group at the University of Cape Town. Collet is on the Executive Committee of the African Society for Human Genetics (AfSHG) as well as the African Pharmacogenomics Network (APN) and was Chair of the Southern African Society for Human Genetics (SASHG) (2021-2023).  Professor Dandara serves on the Board of the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience and served on the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) board from 2019 to 2022. Professor Dandara is a biomedical scientist with extensive experience in pharmacogenomics. Professor Dandara’s research covers the understanding of the pharmacogenomics of antiretroviral drugs and cardiovascular diseases including hypertension and cancer. Professor C Dandara is a current HUGO Executive Board Member. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf Fellow), a Fellow of the African Academy of Science (AAS-Fellow) and was part of the inaugural World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Young Affiliate/Alumni (TYAN) Executive Committee (2016-2021). He has a track record of successful supervision of postgraduate students and has >160 publications in international peer-reviewed journals.

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Pharmacogenomics from a Protein Structure Perspective
09/03/2024 at 10:00 AM (EDT)  |  Recorded On: 08/13/2024
09/03/2024 at 10:00 AM (EDT)  |  Recorded On: 08/13/2024 Pharmacogenomics is relevant worldwide for modern therapeutics and yet needs further uptake in developing countries. There is paucity of studies with a naturalistic design in real-life clinical practice in patients with comorbidities and multiple drug treatments. To evaluate the role and impact of host underlying genetics on treatment response, different approaches are used depending on existing levels of understanding on the functional significance of genetic variants in question. This lecture showcases the work done pharmacogenomics research and how this has occurred in Africa and how “omics” is being leveraged. Our approach focuses on common disease conditions and commonly used medications including herbal medicinal plants. We report on antiretroviral therapy and other treatments alter microRNA expression signatures and expression of drug-metabolizing enzyme genes, in vitro. These data point to several important clinical implications through changes in drug/drug interaction risks and achieving optimal therapeutics. Thus, differential expression of microRNAs after treatment with EFV and RMP adds another layer of complexity that should be incorporated in pharmacogenomic algorithms to render drug response more predictable. The lecture will reflect also on pharmacogenomics of herbal medicines, and interaction with conventional drugs. There is a trend of important genes and their variants coming being prominent biomarkers for responses for commonly used drugs. The use of a wholistic approach in pharmacogenomics research translation that transcends disciplinary boundaries incorporating different “omics” ultimately leading to precision medicine.
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