Trends Pharmacol Sci: Environmental factors influence the effectiveness of medication

December 3, 2020 /--- human exposure to various environmental factors and dietary conditions may reduce or increase the role of therapeutic drugs.
, for example, studies of industrial chemical bisphenol A and phytoestrogen dye flavonoids have shown the interaction of drugs with drugs.
, however, the university's chemists Benedikt Warth and Manuel Pristner note in a commentary published in Trends in Pharmacological Sciences that so far there has been no systematic study of the interaction between exposure and therapeutic agents.
advances in mass spectrometology are very beneficial to the concept of systematic analysis and have great potential to elevate precision medicine to unprecedented levels.
scientifically estimated that humans are exposed to at least 10,000 to 100,000 environmental and exo-compounds through our diet through their lifetimes.
Our bodies can effectively detoxify most of these substances, but molecules and joint exposure can affect the efficacy of the drug," said Benedikt Warth, deputy director and new head of the Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology at the Faculty of Chemistry.
is a well-studied toxin that alters the role of the active agent," said Warth of the University of New York (Photo Source: www.pixabay.com).
" BPA is another popular environmental toxin that, although hardly considered vital to human health, has actually accumulated BPA in everyone's body.
BPA is an important part of plastic production and has been shown to interact with a variety of anti-cancer therapies, which can lead to reduced resistance and effectiveness.
Genistein, a phytoestrogen derived from soy, is an important active agent in hormone drugs for menopeneria symptoms and can also affect a variety of drugs, especially hormone-related breast cancer chemotherapy, the researchers explained in the article.
these interactions can have both positive and negative effects.
"in the thousands of molecules that humans are exposed to, countless molecules can interact with therapeutic agents, especially at critical stages of life, such as pregnancy or adolescence".
manuel Pristner explains.
high-resolution mass spectrometer allows us to measure large numbers of molecules in parallel.
In this way, we can systematically study the network of relationships between so-called exposed bodies (i.e., all measurable exposures) and certain active agents," and improved bioinficial algorithms allow researchers to analyze large data sets generated.
so far, researchers have been looking specifically for the role of a molecule on a particular subject.
with new technologies, we can implement a comprehensive screening strategy, which may lead us to stop relying on rational assumptions for discovery.
"There are a number of reasons why certain active agents work in one person and rarely or not at all in another, depending on the presence of certain subjects in the genome, enzyme activity, or simple chemical reactivity."
better understanding of exposure-drug interactions allows doctors to prescribe personalized medications and dosages based on individual circumstances, thereby improving their effectiveness and minimizing or even avoiding side effects.
the provision of personalized drugs to patients through standardized exposure pre-screening will be the future direction of drug development.
(Bioon.com) Source: Environmental exposures can affect therapeutic drugs Source: Manuel Pristner et al. Drug–Exposome Interactions: The Next Frontier in Precision Medicine, Trends in Pharmacological Sciences (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.tips.2020.09.012。