Purpose of review: Novel medical approaches and personalized medicine seek to use genetic information to 'individualize' and improve diagnosis, prevention, and therapy. The personalized management of cardiovascular disease involves a large spectrum of potential applications, from diagnostics of monogenic disorders, to prevention and management strategies based on modifier genes, to pharmacogenetics, in which individual genetic information is used to optimize the pharmacological treatments.
Recent findings: Evidence suggests that the common polymorphic variants of modifier genes could influence drug response in cardiovascular disease in a variety of areas, including heart failure, arrhythmias, dyslipidemia, and hypertension. In heart failure, common genetic variants of β-adrenergic receptors, α-adrenergic receptors, and endothelin receptors (among others) have been associated with variable response to heart failure therapies. The challenge remains to develop strategies to leverage this information in ways that personalize and optimize cardiovascular therapy based on a patient's genetic profile.
Summary: Although advances in technologies will continue to transition personalized medicine from the research to the clinical setting, healthcare providers will need to reshape the clinical diagnostic paradigms. Ultimately, pharmacogenetics will give providers the options for improving patient management on the basis of pharmacogenetic data.