Personalized Medicine “It doesn't get more personal than this.”

mutations. This will enable physicians to
change drugs immediately for patients
who test positively, and greatly improve
their chances of becoming disease-free.
Rechavi, who also holds TAU’s
Djerassi Chair of Oncology, beams
with optimism at this prospect.
Another type of tailored therapy
involves dosage.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)
is a common childhood cancer. The
overall cure rate is about 80%, and
treatment requires taking 9 drugs over
the course of two years. However, the
typical dosage of one of the drugs, 6MP,
may be good for one child but toxic for
another, poisoning their bone marrow
and even leading to death. Today, a
simple blood test can determine which
patient is genetically predisposed to a
toxic reaction, the dosage can be adjusted,
and another sick child will get
a fighting chance to live.
The connection between drug action
and genetics – pharmacogenetics
– has been part of the medical
school curriculum at TAU for over
10 years, notes Dr. David Gurwitz of
the Department of Human Molecular
Genetics and Biochemistry. A pioneer
and educator in the field, he heads the
National Laboratory for Genetics of
Israeli Populations at TAU. The lab
stockpiles DNA samples and cell lines
from healthy donors representing the
various Jewish and Arab ethnic groups
in Israel.
“Little is still known about Middle
Eastern populations,” says Gurwitz,
“so the study of genetic differences in
drug response is not only important for
Israel, but also for its Arab and Muslim
neighbors.”
In one current study, Gurwitz and his
team, in collaboration with a European
consortium funded by the European
Commission, are searching for the
genetic basis of people’s varying reactions
to anti-depressants. Less than twothirds
of depression sufferers respond to
Prozac and similar selective serotonin
Snapping them up: As the genomics field gains momentum
and generates ever more data to be crunched, TAU students like Maya
Schushan, who is just finishing her PhD in computational biology,
will be able to find high-level positions anywhere in the world. Maya’s
studies were entirely funded by TAU’s Edmond J. Safra Bioinformatics
Program. Her research, under the supervision of Prof. Nir Ben-Tal of the
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, focuses on transmembrane
proteins – involved in key cellular processes – and includes
collaborations with Stockholm University, the Max Planck Institute
and Johns Hopkins University. Maya is also earning her MBA at TAU’s
Faculty of Management–Leon Recanati Graduate School of Business
Administration and “is looking for an interesting and challenging role in
the life sciences industry.”
reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), while over
one third derive no benefit. It takes 6-8
weeks for clinicians to tell if a patient
has responded well to treatment, and
meanwhile the suffering can continue
and even increase the risk of suicide.
According to the World Health
Organization the societal costs of depression,
including lost productivity, are
among the highest disease-related costs
in the developed world. Determining
why some patients do not respond to
SSRIs on the molecular level could
provide valuable information for psychiatrists
and help them choose the
2012 Issue
TEL AVIV UNIVERSITY REVIEW
most suitable anti-depressant for an
individual patient right from the start.
“We are working to move the treatment
of depression from a trial-anderror
approach to a best-fit, personalized
regime,” says Gurwitz.
Enthuses Rechavi: “These are exciting
times to be in genomic medicine.
A great wealth of new information is
available. I can foresee a time in the
very near future when people will be
getting much more individualized – and
thus effective – treatment for the most
severe diseases.”
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