Genetic polymorphisms, disease susceptibility, and pharmacogenomics

Recent evidence indicates that genetic polymorphisms of distinct genes within the general population are responsible for the susceptibility to many of the major chronic diseases, and they they might also be responsible for an individual’s response towards drug therapy.

Recent studies indicate that distinct single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the VEGF gene are associated with reduced or increased levels of circulating VEGF in normal individuals, and that distinct polymorphisms are found significantly more often in patients with severe psoriasis, as compared with healthy control subjects.

These findings indicate that the individual “angiogenetic constitution” determines disease susceptibility. Therapeutic blockade of the VEGF-A/VEGF-A receptor system might represent a novel, pharmacogenomic approach for the future treatment of psoriasis, and we aim to identify individuals that might be particularly sensitive to anti-VEGF-A therapies.