Research
Hormonal
Pharmacogenomics can partially explain heterogeneous responses to weight loss medications by identifying genetic variants that affect drug metabolism or receptor binding.
Current weight loss medications work differently for different people, partly due to genetics. While pharmacogenomic testing is not yet standard, it holds promise for predicting who will benefit from specific drugs like topiramate or liraglutide.
ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Pharmacogenomics could partially explain the heterogeneous response to weight loss medications observed in clinical trials... variants of the insulin receptor gene INSR and the glucagon-like peptide receptor gene GLP-1R targeted by topiramate and liraglutide, respectively, have been associated with a differential treatment response.
Why this rating
Review of pharmacogenomic studies; evidence is promising but guidelines are not yet established.
Source
Precision Medicine for Obesity
Lizeth Cifuentes et al. · Digestive Disease Interventions · 2021
DOI 10.1055/s-0041-1729945
narrative_reviewCited 34×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Current standard-of-care obesity treatments (lifestyle, pharmacotherapy, surgery) exhibit high variability in weight loss outcomes, necessitating a precision medicine approach based on biological markers to predict individual response.Moderate
- Genetic variants (SNPs) associated with obesity have modest individual effects, but aggregated into genetic risk scores, they can interact with environmental factors (diet, activity) to amplify obesity risk.Moderate
- Gut microbiota composition influences energy metabolism and food intake, and specific microbial signatures may predict response to dietary interventions and bariatric surgery.Moderate
Related findings · Hormonal
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- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
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