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Precision medicine results from equitable representation

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 60, pages 122–127 (2025)Cite this article

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In this special issue of Bone Marrow Transplantation, investigators report the impact of IDH1 [1], IDH2 [2], and FLT3-TKD [3] measurable residual disease (MRD) pre-hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in predicting relapse of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults receiving allogeneic HCT. The patient population for these retrospective cohorts, reflecting clinical transplant practice patterns and research biobank participation, was 84–86% non-Hispanic White (NHW) in each study. In this commentary, we explore the implications of racial and ethnic disparities in access to both HCT and HCT-related research and propose strategies to promote representation in precision medicine, given the emerging impact of the field on HCT outcomes.

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Fig. 1: Disparity in HCT access and outcomes.
Fig. 2: Relative proportion (%) of enrolled patients on MEASURE and patients with AML receiving first allogeneic HCT in U.S. in 2021 by race and ethnicity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Wabel Saber, MD, and Kristin Page, MD, for sharing information regarding the CIBMTR Biorepository samples categorized by race and ethnicity. CIBMTR is supported primarily by Public Health Service U24CA076518 from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); U24HL138660 from NHLBI and NCI; 75R60222C00008, 75R60222C00009, and 75R60222C00011 from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA); and N00014-23-1-2057 and N00014-24-1-2057 from the Office of Naval Research. Additional federal support is provided by OT3HL147741, P01CA111412, R01CA100019, R01CA218285, R01CA231141, R01CA231838, R01CA262899, R01AI128775, R01AI150999, R01AI158861, R01HL155741, R01HL171117, R21AG077024, U01AI069197, U01AI126612, U24HL157560, and UG1HL069254. Support is also provided by Boston Children’s Hospital; Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center; Gateway for Cancer Research, Inc.; Jeff Gordon Children’s Foundation; Medical College of Wisconsin; NMDP; NYU Grossman School of Medicine; PBMTF; Rush University Medical Center; St. Baldrick’s Foundation; Stanford University; Stichting European Myeloma Network (EMN); University of Pittsburgh; and from the following commercial entities: AbbVie; Actinium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation; ADC Therapeutics; Adienne SA; Alexion; AlloVir, Inc.; Amgen, Inc.; Astellas Pharma US; AstraZeneca; Atara Biotherapeutics; BeiGene; BioLineRX; Blue Spark Technologies; bluebird bio, inc.; Blueprint Medicines; Bristol Myers Squibb Co.; CareDx Inc.; CSL Behring; CytoSen Therapeutics, Inc.; DKMS; Editas Medicine; Elevance Health; Eurofins Viracor, DBA Eurofins Transplant Diagnostics; Gamida-Cell, Ltd.; Gift of Life Biologics; Gift of Life Marrow Registry; GlaxoSmithKline; HistoGenetics; Incyte Corporation; Iovance; Janssen Research & Development, LLC; Janssen/Johnson & Johnson; Jasper Therapeutics; Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Karius; Kashi Clinical Laboratories; Kiadis Pharma; Kite, a Gilead Company; Kyowa Kirin; Labcorp; Legend Biotech; Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals; Med Learning Group; Medac GmbH; Merck & Co.; Mesoblast; Millennium, the Takeda Oncology Co.; Miller Pharmacal Group, Inc.; Miltenyi Biomedicine; Miltenyi Biotec, Inc.; MorphoSys; MSA-EDITLife; Neovii Pharmaceuticals AG; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation; Omeros Corporation; OptumHealth; Orca Biosystems, Inc.; OriGen BioMedical; Ossium Health, Inc.; Pfizer, Inc.; Pharmacyclics, LLC, An AbbVie Company; PPD Development, LP; REGiMMUNE; Registry Partners; Rigel Pharmaceuticals; Sanofi; Sarah Cannon; Seagen Inc.; Sobi, Inc.; Stemcell Technologies; Stemline Technologies; STEMSOFT; Takeda Pharmaceuticals; Talaris Therapeutics; Vertex Pharmaceuticals; Vor Biopharma Inc.; Xenikos BV. The views expressed in this article do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Institute of Health, the Department of the Navy, the Department of Defense, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) or any other agency of the U.S. Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, Weill Cornell Medicine/NewYork Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, USA

    Alexandra Gomez-Arteaga & Nora Chokr

  2. NMDP, Minneapolis, MN, USA

    Jeffery J. Auletta

  3. Hematology/Oncology/Blood and Marrow Transplant and Infectious Diseases, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA

    Jeffery J. Auletta

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  1. Alexandra Gomez-Arteaga
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AG: conceptualization, writing—original draft. NC: writing—original draft. JA: writing—review & editing, supervision, data curation.

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Correspondence to Alexandra Gomez-Arteaga.

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Gomez-Arteaga, A., Chokr, N. & Auletta, J.J. Precision medicine results from equitable representation. Bone Marrow Transplant 60, 122–127 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-024-02430-z

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