Precision oncology

Cancer treatments that target the characteristics of an individual's tumour could have a wider impact.

Targeted treatments for children, a fresh approach to protein analysis and other highlights from clinical trials and laboratory studies.

The current technique requires a person’s own cells, but using the cells of healthy donors could allow more people to benefit.

The limitations of genomic data have led to a deeper exploration of transcriptomic and proteomic data in cancer.

The technology to fine-tune radiotherapy to an individual is here, but a lack of research is holding back its use.

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

Some people with cancer are already benefiting from drugs that target genetic features regardless of the tissue involved. But these early successes could be the exceptions.

Janssen’s Craig Tendler talks to Nature about how data collected by the company after a drug is approved can be used to improve treatment.

The flagship paper of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium describes the generation of the integrative analyses of 2,658 cancer whole genomes and their matching normal tissues across 38 tumour types, the structures for international data sharing and standardized analyses, and the main scientific findings from across the consortium studies.

Precision medicine approaches to the treatment of cancer are largely reliant on genomic analysis alone. In this Perspective the authors provide a rationale for the incorporation of analysis of the proteome, which is a rich source of biological heterogeneity, into the treatment and management of patients with cancer.

In the past few years, the use of data from the real world has garnered increasing interest; however, studies using real-world data (RWD) should not be used as substitutes for clinical trials. The authors of this Review explore the quality of RWD, provide a framework for the use of RWD and draw attention to the methodological pitfalls inherent to using RWD.

The use of allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cells from donors has many potential advantages over autologous approaches, such as immediate availability, standardization and the possibility of redosing or combination. This Review analyses the different sources of T cells and technological approaches to produce optimal allogeneic chimeric antigen receptor T cells with limited potential for graft-versus-host disease and increased persistence.