Applications of microarrays and biochips in pharmacogenomics

The complete sequence of the human genome and subsequent intensive searches for polymorphic variations are providing the prerequisite markers necessary to facilitate elucidation of the genetic variability in drug responses. Improvements in the sensitivity and precision of DNA microarrays permit a detailed and accurate scrutiny of the human genome. These advances have the potential to significantly improve health care management by improving disease diagnosis and targeting molecular therapy. Pharmacogenetic approaches, in limited use today, will become an integral part of therapeutic monitoring and health management, permitting patient stratification in advance of treatments, with the potential to eliminate adverse drug reactions. In this chapter, the current state of biochip technology is discussed, and recent applications in the arena of clinic diagnostics are explored.