Project Overview

Patras: Hippocrates (2020) - Project Promotion Video [English]

According to most studies, deaths due to cardiovascular diseases are already known to be the second leading cause of death and are expected to be the first in 20 years. It is also well known that many medicines are more likely to be prescribed based on the patient’s genetic background, including statins, a wide category of drugs prescribed to control cholesterol levels. This procedure is explained by Pharmacogenomics, a new scientific field that describes the differential side effects in patients who receive the same dosage of a drug owing to differences in their genomic profile. Thus, treatment individualization can be achieved, taking into consideration all this information. Personalized medicine cannot be considered a modern term. Hippocrates, the father of western medicine, wrote about the individuality of disease and the necessity of giving “different drugs to different patients, for the sweet ones do not benefit everyone, nor do the astringent ones, nor are all the patients able to drink the same things.”

Our project is focusing on a drug widely used in therapeutics, statins. Specifically, we are investigating their metabolism and the role of the SLCO1B1 gene. According to PharmGKB, the polymorphism we are studying has a directive to avoid simvastatin in patients who are homozygous for the polymorphism rs4149056 of this gene. It is also reported that atorvastatin’s and fluvastatin’s metabolism is affected (albeit to a lesser degree) by the same polymorphism.

The Problem

Healthcare professionals and physicians are neither aware of the discipline of Pharmacogenomics nor the genetic background. There is a need for continuous professional education on Pharmacogenomics and the development of a “tool” that will help physicians personalize each patient’s drug dosage.

The Solution

Our project’s goal is to automatize the whole procedure to be done by everyone under specific instructions. Taking advantage of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and using a completely portable molecular laboratory, we introduce the aforementioned “tool” to help physicians recommend the correct dosage of statins, easy, quick, and reliably.

Team:Patras/Project Overview

Project Overview

The Problem

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