Pharmacogenomics and symptom management in palliative and supportive care: A scoping review

Pharmacogenomics (PGx) is an area of expanding research, which could indicate whether an individual is likely to benefit from a symptom control medication. Palliative and supportive care (PSC) could be an area that benefits from PGx, however, little is known about the current evidence base for this.

To determine how PGx can be applied in PSC, whether there is any evidence of benefit, and to understand the extent and type of evidence that supports the use of PGx in PSC.

A search of six databases up to July 2024. Reference snowballing from review articles and screened papers was used to identify any missed articles.

11 articles were reviewed. A total of 550 patients had a PGx test across 8/11 studies. Up to half of the patients had an actionable PGx result, and in one study there were 4.6 drug-gene interactions per patient. Implementation of PGx was found to be feasible. Clinician adherence to advice given was under-reported. No studies reported health economics analysis, or was designed to definitively answer whether PGx was better than standard care.

It is both feasible and acceptable to conduct PGx testing in a supportive and palliative care setting. Many supportive care medications are amenable to PGx. Clinician adherence to recommendations is variable and there is no clear evidence that PGx enhances palliative/supportive care patient outcomes. Prospective, clinical trials are needed to establish whether PGx can improve symptom management for people receiving PSC.