Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • OUTLOOK

Health-care inequality could deepen with precision oncology

Failure to address systemic bias in health-care provision and genetic databases will make existing disparities worse.
  1. Jyoti Madhusoodanan

    1. Jyoti Madhusoodanan is a science writer based in Portland, Oregon.

    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed  Google Scholar

The legacy of a woman who died of cervical cancer in 1951 epitomizes, in principle, the promise of precision oncology. Researchers extracted cells from her tumour and cultured them. After her death, they scrutinized her cells’ genomes for cancer-causing mutations, and used them to test drugs that could target those genetic variants. This paved the way for the first genetically targeted cancer treatments.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 585, S13-S15 (2020)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02678-7

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Precision Oncology, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

References

  1. Cykert, S. et al. J. Am. Med. Assoc. 303, 2368–2376 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Samuel C. A. et al. Support. Care Cancer 26, 1425–1435 (2018).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Borno, H. T. et al. Cancer 125, 453–462 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Lynch, J. A. et al. BMC Cancer 18, 306 (2018).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Reeder-Hayes, K., Peacock Hinton, S., Meng, K., Carey, L. A. & Dusetzina, S. B. J. Clin Oncol. 34, 2003–2009 (2016).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Spratt, D. E. et al. JAMA Oncol. 2, 1070–1074 (2016).

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Martin, A. R. et al. Nature Genet. 51, 584–591 (2019).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Reich, D. et al. PLoS Genet. 5, e1000360 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Cykert, S. et al. J. Natl Med. Assoc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnma.2019.03.001 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links