Pharmacogenetics and stomach cancer: an update

Abstract

Although new drugs and association regimens have been used in recent years, the chemotherapeutic outcome for gastric cancer is still poor and improvement in patient survival is not satisfactory. Pharmacogenetics could represent a useful approach to optimize chemotherapeutic treatments in order to identify individuals that are true candidates for clinical benefits from therapy, avoiding the development of severe side effects. The most recent update regarding gastric cancer pharmacogenetics highlights a prominent role of genetic polymorphisms of thymidylate synthase and glutathione S-transferase in the pharmacological treatment with commonly used drugs, such as 5-fluorouracil and platinum derivatives. In order to validate the genetic markers, further larger scale and controlled studies are required. A future challenge is represented by the introduction of targeted therapy in gastric cancer treatment, with the potential emerging tool of pharmacogenetic impact on this field.