Accidental or
deliberate deaths caused by chemicals are of always great interest throughout
the human history. Forensic toxicology is one of the oldest branches in toxicological
sciences and its main task is isolation, identification, quantification and
interpretation of poisonings that cause injury or death. Multidisciplinary
approach is the best rational solution in the investigation of a medico legal
cause of death. Experienced professionals from toxicology, chemistry, biology,
biochemistry, genetics forensic medicine and pathology are contributing to
explanation of unexpected death especially in challenging cases.
Considerable
number of people dies each year as a result of adverse drug reactions to
prescription medications. Many factors have influence on medicine related
deaths including patient characteristics (condition of liver and kidney, age,
gender, weight, and number of comorbidities), drug administration (dosage,
administration route, number of concomitant drugs), environmental factors and
finally individual genetic make-up. Recent advances in understanding the human
genome and the development of new technologies using DNA as an analytical
sample together within toxicology field are of great interest for cause of
death investigation in drug induced morbidity and mortality. Pharmacogenetics
is the study of the influence of genetic variations on medicine response and
development of adverse drug reactions. These genetic variations are indels,
gene deletions, duplications, micro- and macrosatellites, and single nucleotide
polymorphisms (SNPs). In human genome
some of these differences cause altered protein, truncated protein or unstable
protein in drug metabolising enzymes, drug transporters and receptors. Since
pharmaceutical agents are one of the most commonly identified causes of adverse
events, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality, the application of
pharmacogenetics in forensic toxicology may provide a rational basis for the
understanding of various drug associated fatalities.
Journal Section | Articles |
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Authors | |
Publication Date | February 16, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017 Volume: Volume 2 Issue: İssue 1 (1) - 2.İnternational Congress Of Forensic Toxicology |