Pharmacogenetic testing-guided treatment for oncology: an overview of reviews

Abstract

Pharmacogenetics is the relationship between an individual's genetic variations and their response to pharmacological treatment. We conducted an overview of reviews on the use of post-treatment pharmacogenetic testing for oncology, based on clinically relevant gene-drug pairs. We conducted a search on Medline, Embase and Cochrane Library, from their inception to 18 June 2020. We selected six eligible systematic reviews. The most studied drug categories were estrogen agonists/antagonists and fluoropyrimidines associated with cytochrome P450 and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase genes (CYP2D6 and DPYD), but many studies were classified as being of critically low or low quality. There is a need for more high-quality primary studies and systematic reviews that assess the risk of bias, with consistent definitions of clinical outcomes to consider the benefits of pharmacogenetic testing for oncology.

Keywords: evidence-based medicine; oncology; pharmacogenetics; polymorphism; systematic review.