In the cohort of NSCLC patients in American population who underwent neoadjuvant platinum-based chemotherapy, Kim et al. reported that the African American had significantly reduced SLC31A1 expression in tumor (P = 0.001), lowered tissue platinum concentration (P = 0.009) and decreased tumor shrinkage (P = 0.016) as compared to Caucasians [9]. The gene discussed is SLC31A1; the disease is non-small cell lung carcinoma.