Human genetic variation and personalized medicine.

Human genome sequencing results revealed an insight into the role of human genetic variation behind differential susceptibility of human diseases, differential response to pharmacological agents and presence of varied phenotypes. This leads to the concept of personalized medicine. In the present review we have discussed the objectives and approaches for carrying out pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenetics studies. The review also incorporates the major findings categorizing the common diseases on the basis of genetic profiles and ethnic information and in establishing personalized disease diagnosis, drug responses and treatment modalities based on the genetic determinants. Overall an attempt has been made to highlight the importance of studying the genetic profiles of an individual in biomedical and pharmacogenomics research.