Biomarkers and Precision Medicine in Diabetes

This chapter reviews the variation in drug response to commonly used drugs in people with diabetes to guide personalized treatment choices. It starts with a summary of examples from monogenic diseases to illustrate how pharmacogenetics can be used to tailor therapy decisions. Recent advances in genetics and simultaneous measurements of numerous proteins and metabolites have increased expectations that in near future treatment decisions will be able to be further tailored to the individual based on specific personal characteristics. This concept, which is termed personalized medicine, is usually defined as medical model that separates people into different groups, with medical decisions, practices and interventions. Maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder accounting for 1-5% of all diabetes cases, but often remains undiagnosed. In the past, a combination of clinical factors and biomarkers was used to guide identification of individuals with MODY.