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PARP inhibitors and epithelial ovarian cancer: an approach to targeted chemotherapy and personalised medicine
Author(s) -
Mukhopadhyay A,
Curtin N,
Plummer R,
Edmondson RJ
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
bjog: an international journal of obstetrics and gynaecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.157
H-Index - 164
eISSN - 1471-0528
pISSN - 1470-0328
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2010.02838.x
Subject(s) - ovarian cancer , epithelial ovarian cancer , oncology , medicine , chemotherapy , poly adp ribose polymerase , cancer research , cancer , biology , gene , genetics , polymerase
Please cite this paper as: Mukhopadhyay A, Curtin N, Plummer R, Edmondson R. PARP inhibitors and epithelial ovarian cancer: an approach to targeted chemotherapy and personalised medicine. BJOG 2011;118:429–432. Poly‐ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors have emerged as exciting new chemotherapy options for women with ovarian cancer. They exploit a mechanism known as synthetic lethality by targeting specific DNA repair pathways. Recent Phase II clinical trials have shown great promise in treating women with hereditary breast and ovarian cancers associated with BRCA1 / 2 mutations. Most importantly, they appear to be associated with only minimal adverse effects. However, up to 50–60% of epithelial ovarian cancers are defective in their ability to repair DNA damage using homologous recombination and could potentially benefit from these agents providing a scope both for targeted chemotherapy and personalised medicine. Ongoing clinical trials are investigating the potential benefit of this agent in treatment of high‐grade serous epithelial ovarian cancers and in platinum‐resistant disease.