Yuan-Tsong Chen

Yuan-Tsong Chen ( YT Chen )（Chinese: 陳垣崇）is a physician scientist, recognized for his work on human genetic disorders. He is the director emeritus (2001-2010) and distinguished research fellow (2001-) of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taiwan.^[1] and also tenured professor of pediatrics of Duke University (1993-) ^[2]

Research

Chen’s achievements include drug development of recombinant enzyme replacement therapy for Pompe disease, an enzyme-deficiency disorder that causes muscle damage, cardiorespiratory failure and in its severe infantile form, death by 2 years of age.^[3] The drug, eventually named “Myozyme”, was further developed by Genzyme and received the regulatory marketing approval in Europe and USA in 2006. The story of a father searching for a treatment for his two children with Pompe disease and the development of this rug has been adapted to a Hollywood movie entitled “Extraordinary Measures” featured Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser.^[4]

Later, Chen’s research focus extends to the pharmacogenetics of adverse drug reactions and drug efficacy. His team identified VKORC1 gene variants to play a major role in determining the warfarin dosage, a widely prescribed anticoagulant. They teamed with International Warfarin Consortium to formulate a universal algorithm that can better predict an optimal dosage for each patient.^[5]. His team also discovered the strong association of the gene HLA-B*15:02 with carbamazepine ^[6], a drug used to treat epilepsy, and that of the gene HLA-B*58:01 with allopurinol^[7], a widely prescribed drug for gout, to induce Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN). These pharmacogenetic researches have prompted the FDA to relabel the two commonly prescribed drugs, carbamazepine and warfarin, with genetic information and to recommend genetic screening before prescribing the medication, and paved the road for personalized and precision medicine.^{[8] [9]}

References