The DOI matches its Crossref record; 196 of the 196 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Sex disparities matter in cancer development and therapy
Open accessAbstract
Curing cancer through precision medicine is the paramount aim of the new wave of molecular and genomic therapies. Currently, whether patients with non-reproductive cancers are male or female according to their sex chromosomes is not adequately considered in patient standard of care. This is a matter of consequence because there is growing evidence that these cancer types generally initiate earlier and are associated with higher overall incidence and rates of death in males compared with females. Gender, in contrast to sex, refers to a chosen sexual identity. Hazardous lifestyle choices (notably tobacco smoking) differ in prevalence between genders, aligned with disproportionate cancer risk. These add to underlying genetic predisposition and influences of sex steroid hormones. Together, these factors affect metabolism, immunity and inflammation, and ultimately the fidelity of the genetic code. To accurately understand how human defences against cancer erode, it is crucial to establish the influence of sex. Our Perspective highlights evidence from basic and translational research indicating that including genetic sex considerations in treatments for patients with cancer will improve outcomes. It is now time to adopt the challenge of overhauling cancer medicine based on optimized treatment strategies for females and males. This Perspective highlights the evidence from basic and translational research that genetic sex influences multiple factors that can contribute to cancer development and treatment responses, and suggests that including genetic sex considerations in treatments for patients with cancer will improve outcomes.
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Cited by
Sex and gender differences in cancer pathogenesis and pharmacology
Bernardez, B., Higuera, O., Martinez-Callejo, V., Cardeña-Gutiérrez, A., Marcos Rodríguez, J. A., Santaballa Bertrán, A., Majem, M., & Moreno-Martínez, M.-E. (2025) · Clinical and Translational Oncology · doi:10.1007/s12094-025-03894-1 · Cited by 27
Gut dysbiosis in oncology: a risk factor for immunoresistance
(2026) · doi:10.1038/s41422-025-01212-6 · Cited by 24
Metadata
- Authors
- Haupt, S., Caramia, F., Klein, S. L., Rubin, J. B., & Haupt, Y.
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Cancer
- Published
- 2021-04-20
- Volume
- 21
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 393-407
- ISSN
- 1474-175X (ISSN-L)
- 1474-1768
- OpenAlex
- W3153178523
- Cited by
- 331
- References
- 196
- FWCI
- 12.10
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
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- Haupt, S., Caramia, F., Klein, S. L., Rubin, J. B., & Haupt, Y. (2021). Sex disparities matter in cancer development and therapy. Nature Reviews Cancer. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41568-021-00348-y
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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
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