Pharmacogenomics of Cholestatic Liver Disease

Pharmacogenomics is a rapidly growing field that involves the systematic identification of all human genes, gene products and their genetic variants, and includes the study of changes in their expression over time in health and diseases [14]. Pharmacogenomic strategies have been designed with the aim of refining the classification of disease processes [33], of increasing the number and specificity of drug targets [48], and ultimately of predicting individual risks of acquiring a particular disease and of responding to a specific therapy. The better understanding of disease processes and the implementation of pharmacogenomic strategies in drug development promises to revolutionize medicine through an individual approach to a patient’s disease risk, diagnosis and drug therapy.