Aim: L-dopa remains the most effective symptomatic therapy for Parkinson's disease (PD) but unfortunately, its chronic use is often associated with motor complications. This review highlights the importance of pharmacogenetics in an individualised PD therapeutic approach.
Material and methods: review of the literature was done.
Results: PD patients show remarkable heterogeneity in their response to L-dopa and this profound interindividual heterogeneity suggests that there is a genetic predisposition.
Conclusions: The impact of the genetic makeup of every individual on PD treatment appears to be of great importance in order to achieve not only the optimum therapeutic effect, but also with minimal side effects.
Keywords: COMT; L-dopa; Parkinson’s disease; dyskinesias; gene; pharmacogenetics.