CYP2D6 Genotyping and Tamoxifen: An Unfinished Story in the Quest for Personalized Medicine

The philosophy behind personalized medicine is that each patient has a unique biologic profile that should guide the choice of therapy, resulting in an improved treatment outcome, ideally with reduced toxicity. Thus, there has been increasing interest in identifying genetic variations that are predictive of a drug's efficacy or toxicity. Although it is one of the most effective drugs for treating breast cancer, tamoxifen is not effective in all estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer patients, and it is frequently associated with side effects, such as hot flashes. Relative resistance to tamoxifen treatment may be a result, in part, from impaired drug activation by cytochrome P450 2D6 (CYP2D6). Indeed, recent studies have identified allelic variations in CYP2D6 to be an important determinant of tamoxifen's activity (and toxicity). This article will summarize the current information regarding the influence of the major genotypes and CYP2D6 inhibitors on tamoxifen metabolism, with a focus on its clinical utility and the current level of evidence for CYP2D6 genotyping of patients who are candidates for tamoxifen treatment.