Human microbiome as a future approach to personalized medicine

Individuals have different responses to different therapeutic agents which is the major problem in clinical practice. Huge amounts of time and money have been invested in looking for the sources of these variabilities. Human microbiome, the bacterial ecosystem residing in every human body which contributes 100 times more genes than the human genome, may be the true source of various responses. Since studies have shown that dysbiosis which results in alterations in both structural and functional profiles of the human microbiota is major contributors to the pathogenesis of immune, infectious and metabolic disorders, modulation of microbiota could be effective in personalized medicine. The term gut pharmacomicrobiomics implies the effect of the gut microbiome on pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic processes through the secretion of drug structure-modifying enzymes, secretion of metabolits interfering with drug metabolism, modification of intestinal and liver enzymes, and modulation of human metabolic genes expression. We can imagine a future that routinely analyzing the microbiome allows us to predict individualized responses to different foods and drugs. Microbiome analyzing of individuals may be added to future routine personalized medicine protocols after comparing the costs and benefits of this technology. Improved understanding of the human microbiome could lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for different diseases. Potential therapeutic agents such as personalized probiotic and prebiotic supplements, dietary interventions and fecal microbiota transplantation that can be used to reshape the gut microbiome represent a reasonable strategy to enter the era of personalized medicine.

Keywords:

Gut microbiome , pharmacomicrobiomics , personalized medicine