Precision Medicine in Palliative Care

Palliative care aims to enhance the quality of life for patients facing serious, life-limiting illnesses by addressing physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. While palliative care has traditionally followed a standardized approach, rapid advancements in genomics, biomarker discovery, and digital health technologies are opening new possibilities for precision medicine applications. Precision medicine customizes medical care to individual characteristics—including genetics, comorbidities, and personal preferences—offering the potential to optimize symptom management, minimize adverse effects, and better align interventions with patient values. As the prevalence of chronic and complex illnesses increases globally, examining how precision medicine can transform palliative care becomes increasingly pertinent.

Despite significant progress in personalized medicine across various medical specialties, its integration into palliative care practice remains relatively limited. The primary challenge is translating molecular, clinical, and patient-reported data into actionable strategies that honor the unique goals and wishes of seriously ill patients. This Research Topic seeks to address the current barriers and opportunities for implementing precision medicine in palliative care and to highlight innovative, evidence-based solutions. Recent advances—such as pharmacogenomics for individualized symptom control, digital platforms for risk prediction, and tailored supportive therapies—demonstrate the promise of this approach. We aim to foster interdisciplinary collaboration among clinicians, researchers, and bioethicists to identify best practices, discuss ethical considerations, and inform the development of practical frameworks for integrating precision medicine into routine palliative care. Contributions that emphasize real-world applications, feasibility studies, and strategies for scaling up personalized interventions are highly encouraged.

We invite submissions that address a broad range of themes related to precision medicine in palliative care, including but not limited to:

• Genomic and biomarker-driven interventions: Use of genomics and biomarkers to guide symptom management and treatment choices.

• Digital and artificial intelligence tools: Implementation of digital health innovations and AI for decision support, prognostication, and risk prediction.

• Personalization of care pathways: Design and evaluation of individualized care plans and therapies for patients with serious illnesses.

• Bioethical and psychosocial considerations: Exploration of ethical, cultural, and psychosocial implications of applying precision medicine in palliative care.

• Implementation challenges: Identification and analysis of barriers, facilitators, and strategies for integrating precision approaches into existing settings.

• Health equity: Addressing disparities in access and outcomes for diverse and underserved patient populations.

• Policy and education: Discussion on policy implications, educational needs, and interdisciplinary training models to support the adoption of precision medicine in palliative care.

We welcome a variety of manuscript types, including Original Research articles, Clinical Trials, Reviews, Perspectives, Commentaries, and Case Reports. Manuscripts that provide practical, translational insights or propose innovative approaches for the real-world integration of precision medicine in palliative care are especially encouraged.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• FAIR² DATA Direct Submission
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Review
• Study Protocol
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Palliative Care, Precision Medicine, Personalized Medicine, Pharmacogenomics, Biomarker

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.