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World J Transl Med. Dec 12, 2014; 3(3): 141-149
Published online Dec 12, 2014. doi: 10.5528/wjtm.v3.i3.141
Pharmacogenetics of type 2 diabetes mellitus: An example of success in clinical and translational medicine
Antonio Brunetti, Francesco S Brunetti, Eusebio Chiefari
Antonio Brunetti, Eusebio Chiefari, Department of Health Sciences, University “Magna Græcia” of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
Francesco S Brunetti, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University ‘‘Magna Græcia’’ of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy
Author contributions: Brunetti A wrote and edited the review; Brunetti FS contributed to editing of the final draft of the manuscript; Chiefari E contributed to writing the manuscript and drew the figures.
Correspondence to: Antonio Brunetti, Professor, Department of Health Sciences, University “Magna Græcia” of Catanzaro, V.le Europa (Loc. Germaneto), 88100 Catanzaro, Italy. brunetti@unicz.it
Telephone: +39-961-3694368 Fax: +39-961-996087
Received: July 27, 2014
Revised: September 25, 2014
Accepted: October 31, 2014
Published online: December 12, 2014
Processing time: 139 Days and 12.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a heterogeneous complex disorder, in which predisposing genetic variants (polymorphisms) and precipitating environmental factors interact synergistically in the development of the disease. Besides being useful in identifying individuals at risk for T2DM, knowledge of the polymorphisms associated with T2DM is also useful in pharmacogenetics for correlating individual variants with individual responses to anti-diabetic drugs. To date, a wide variety of genes that influence pharmacogenetics of anti-diabetic drugs have been identified. However, with few exceptions, drug therapy has not taken into account the individual genetic diversity of treated patients, representing, this, a substantial limitation of pharmacogenetics. This review focuses on clinically important polymorphisms affecting a patient’s response to diabetic medications.