Development of PARP inhibitors in gynaecological malignancies

Publication date: Available online 14 March 2017
Source:Current Problems in Cancer
Author(s): Yvonne LE Ang, David SP Tan
PARP inhibitors demonstrate synthetic lethality in tumours with BRCA1/2 mutations and other homologous recombination repair deficiencies by interfering with DNA repair and causing direct toxicity to DNA through PARP trapping. PARP inhibitors have been shown to be beneficial in the treatment of BRCA1/2 mutated ovarian cancers, which has led to a shift in the treatment paradigm of this disease. Further studies to establish the role of PARP inhibitors during earlier stages of treatment are ongoing. The use of PARP inhibitors in other cancers with homologous recombination repair deficiencies, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer, is gradually evolving as well, including use in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant settings. PARP inhibitor combination strategies with chemotherapy, targeted agents, radiotherapy and immunotherapy are also being explored. The role of predictive biomarkers, including molecular signatures and homologous recombination deficiency scores based on loss of heterozygosity and other structural genomic aberrations will be crucial to improved patient stratification in order to enhance the clinical utility of PARP inhibitors. This may also allow the use of PARP inhibitors to be extended beyond tumours with specific homologous recombination DNA repair gene mutations in the future. An improved understanding of the mechanisms underlying PARP inhibitor resistance will also be important to enable the development of new approaches to increase efficacy. This is a field rich in opportunity, and the coming years should see a better understanding of which patients we should be treating with PARP inhibitors and where these agents should come in over the course of treatment.



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