330
Biswajit Mukherjee et al.
growth during cell division. Paclitaxel altered the expression pattern of genes involved in various biological functions including cell cycle regulation and cell proliferation, apoptosis, signal transduction and transcriptional regulation, fatty acid biosynthesis and sterol metabolism, and IFN-mediated signaling (Bani, 2004). Moos et al (1999) hypothesized that prostaglandin H synthase-2 (PGHS-2) was one of the unidentified genes induced by taxol. The Inclusion of PGHS-2 among the early response genes induced in leukocytes may be relevant to beneficial and adverse effects encountered during taxol administration.
Conclusion The genetic modulations by herbal compounds in isolated forms or in galenicals have been demonstrated by many above mentioned studies. Regulatory alteration of the genes varies degree of gene expressions in individuals. Some individuals become addicted quickly to morphine and others take more time to be addicted. This fact claims the differential behavioral problems of gene-regulatory mechanisms among humans. Therefore, it is important to correlate the modern science of pharmacogenomics with the ethnomedicines which remain the support of survival of humans through thousands of years. The area should be explored in a systematic, distinctively reliable and elaborative way to substantiate and authenticate the status of ethnomedicines in the present world, effects of them in individual patients when used for a long-term basis, their safety, effectiveness and credibility. Discoveries in genetics make it possible to understand the effects of ethnomedicines on various gene expressions in the body. This insight helps to prevent disease and improve quality of life through ethnomedicines. From the above discussion it is clear that there are numbers of ethnomedicines that can cure numerous life threatening diseases by interactions with genes. Thus a clear knowledge of pharmacogenomics and pharmacogenomics -ethnomedicine interaction may open a new era of medical science.
References 1. 2. 3. 4.
Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P, Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th Edition, Fig. 15-1, 2002, available online at www.garlandscience.com. Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P, Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th Edition, Fig. 15-61, 2002, available online at www.garlandscience.com. Bani MR, Nicoletti MI, Alkharouf NW, Ghilardi C, Petersen D, Erba E, Sausville EA, Liu ET and Giavazzi R, Gene expression correlating with response to paclitaxel in ovarian carcinoma xenografts, Mol Cancer Ther, 2004, 3(2):111-121. Bannon M, Kapatos G and Albertson D, Gene Expression Profiling in the Brains of Human Cocaine Abusers, Addict Biol, 2005, 10(1): 119-126.