Exploration of Targeted Anti-tumor Therapy

Table 1. Characteristics of the studies included in the integrative review (n = 24).

Author(s), year	Country/region	Study design	Main topic	Analytical theme
Penchaszadeh, 2015 [1]	Argentina	Theoretical/perspective	Genetics and public health in Latin America	Research vulnerability
Barrios et al., 2019 [2]	Latin America (Brazil)	Review/perspective	Access to high-cost drugs (trastuzumab) in public systems	Innovation paradox/financial toxicity
Raez et al., 2018 [3]	Latin America (multi)	Review	Access to genomic profiling, immunotherapy, and targeted treatments for lung cancer	Innovation paradox/financial toxicity
de Castilla et al., 2024 [4]	Latin America (multi)	Policy/perspective	Precision oncology implementation: barriers and stakeholder roles	Infrastructure deficits/epistemic injustice
Richard-Greenblatt et al., 2021 [16]	LMIC (global)	Original research	Cold chain logistics for diagnostic sample transport	Infrastructure deficits
Popejoy & Fullerton, 2016 [6]	Global	Data analysis (GWAS Catalog)	Ancestry composition of genomic study participants worldwide	Epistemic injustice
Zavala et al., 2021 [7]	USA/Latin America	Review	Cancer health disparities in racial/ethnic minorities	Epistemic injustice
Mastroleo, 2016 [8]	Global/theoretical	Theoretical/ethical-legal analysis	Post-trial access obligations under the Declaration of Helsinki 2013	Research vulnerability
Andia & Lamprea, 2019 [10]	Colombia/Brazil	Scoping review	Judicialization of healthcare and equity implications	Judicialization dilemma
Riegler, 2023 [11]	Global/theoretical	Theoretical	Comparative ethics of modern payment models and care ethics	Judicialization/financial toxicity
Desai et al., 2022 [17]	USA/LMIC relevance	Original research	Economic cost and sustainability of oral therapies in precision oncology	Innovation paradox/financial toxicity
Elshiekh et al., 2024 [18]	Global	Review	Financial challenges of long-term high-cost medications	Innovation paradox/financial toxicity
Sebastian et al., 2025 [19]	India (LMIC)	Original research	Tepotinib in MET exon 14 skipping NSCLC: real-world LMIC outcomes	Infrastructure deficits/research vulnerability
Kivuyo et al., 2025 [20]	Tanzania (LMIC)	Retrospective review	Pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer	Innovation paradox/infrastructure deficits
Zampoli et al., 2023 [21]	Global/LMIC	Review	Access disparities and ethics of CFTR modulator drugs	Innovation paradox/financial toxicity
Putra et al., 2025 [22]	Asia (LMIC)	Systematic review (abstract)	Socioeconomic inequities in glioblastoma care in Asia	Infrastructure deficits/financial toxicity
Zafar et al., 2013 [23]	USA	Pilot study (quantitative)	Financial toxicity of cancer treatment: out-of-pocket expenses	Innovation paradox/financial toxicity
Smith et al., 2019 [24]	Global	Systematic review	Financial burdens of cancer treatment: risk factors and outcomes	Innovation paradox/financial toxicity
Martínez-Nava et al., 2024 [25]	Latin America (multi)	Systematic review/meta-analysis	Somatic mutations in Latin American breast cancer patients	Epistemic injustice
Zarić et al., 2025 [26]	Global	Review	Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and personalized cancer therapy	Epistemic injustice
Corrarino, 2013 [27]	USA/LMIC relevance	Review	Health literacy and women’s health: challenges and opportunities	Research vulnerability
Paasche-Orlow et al., 2003 [28]	USA	Original research	Readability of informed-consent forms vs. actual readability	Research vulnerability
Amerson & Strang, 2015 [29]	LMIC (global)	Review	Research challenges in developing countries: ethical and logistical barriers	Research vulnerability
Salha et al., 2022 [30]	Brazil	Original research (quantitative)	Judicialization of health: oncological medicine demands in Brazil	Judicialization dilemma

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Studies classified under Methods [12, 14, 15] served as the methodological framework for this review. LMIC: low- and middle-income country; CFTR: cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator; NSCLC: non-small cell lung cancer.

Declarations

Acknowledgments

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based tools were used in the preparation of this manuscript. Specifically: 1) AI-assisted language tools were employed for grammar correction and style refinement of the original text; and 2) Scite.ai (https://scite.ai/) was used to verify the integrity of all cited references, including assessment of citation patterns (supporting, contradicting, and mentioning citations) and retraction status. All scientific content, analysis, interpretation, and conclusions are exclusively the work of the author. No AI tool was used to generate data, references, or substantive intellectual content. The author takes full responsibility for the integrity and accuracy of all content presented.

Author contributions

AC: Conceptualization, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Data curation, Validation, Visualization, Project administration, Writing—original draft, Writing—review & editing. The author read and approved the submitted version.

Conflicts of interest

Alcides Chaux, who is the Guest Editor of Exploration of Targeted Anti-tumor Therapy, had no involvement in the decision-making or the review process of this manuscript. There is no other conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Not applicable.

Consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent to publication

Not applicable.

Availability of data and materials

The primary data for this systematic review were sourced online from databases listed in the methods. Referenced articles are accessible on PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), and LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature). Additional supporting data are available from the corresponding author upon request.

Funding

Not applicable.

Copyright

Publisher’s note

Open Exploration maintains a neutral stance on jurisdictional claims in published institutional affiliations and maps. All opinions expressed in this article are the personal views of the author(s) and do not represent the stance of the editorial team or the publisher.

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