Among all the drug metabolic enzymes, cytochrome P450 (CYP450) superfamily acts as an important role responsible for the oxidation of almost 90% currently used drugs. As variations of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNPs) in human CYP450 genes will cause different drug effects and even adverse effects, studies on SNPs of human CYP450 genes can be used for indicating the most possible genes associated with human diseases and relevant therapeutic targets, predicting the drug efficacy and adverse drug response, investigating individual gene specific properties and then providing personalized and optimal clinic therapies. Recently, some new bioinformatics methods are introduced in SNPs researches, which significantly facilitate the development of drug and medicine. The review will focus on a brief introduction of the SNPs of human drug metabolic enzymes and their relationships with personalized medicine. Besides, common bioinformatics analysis methods and some latest progresses and applications in this area will also be discussed.
Keywords: Cytochrome P450, Drug metabolism, Personalized medicine, SNP, Human Genome Project, Pharmacogenetics, Glutathione S-transferases, xenobiotics, thromboembolic disease, N-acetyltransferases