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. 2012 Jun;13(8):935-49.
doi: 10.2217/pgs.12.59.

Return of research results from pharmacogenomic versus disease susceptibility studies: what's drugs got to do with it?

Lynn G Dressler  1
Affiliations

Return of research results from pharmacogenomic versus disease susceptibility studies: what's drugs got to do with it?

Lynn G Dressler. Pharmacogenomics. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

One of the most controversial ethical issues in genomics research is the return of individual research results to research subjects. As new technologies, including whole-genome sequencing, provide an increased opportunity for researchers to find clinically relevant research results, the questions related to if, when and how individual research results should be returned become more central to the ethical conduct of genomic research. In the absence of federal guidance on this issue, many groups and individuals have developed recommendations and suggestions to address these questions. Most of these recommendations have focused on the return of individual results from disease susceptibility studies. However, in addition to predicting the development of disease, genomic research also includes predicting an individual's response to drugs, especially the risk of developing adverse events. This article evaluates and compares the return of individual research results from disease susceptibility studies versus pharmacogenomic studies.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Health–disease–outcome continuum
As an individual moves along this continuum, he/she moves from being in a healthy state to being in a diseased state, with some type of outcome. When a DSS result is obtained (Tr) it can often result is obtained take years before the event occurs (Tx). By contrast, when a PGxAE (Tr) it may only be days or weeks before the event occurs (Ty). DSS: Disease susceptibility study; PGxAE: Pharmacogenomics study predicting drug adverse events; PGxEFF: Pharmacogenomics study predicting drug effectiveness; Tr: Time of initial research result; Tx: Time to event predicted by the DSS research result; Ty: Time of event predicted by the PGxAE results; Tz: Time to event predicted by the PGxEFF result.
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References

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