PARP in­hibitors some­times work be­yond BR­CA-mu­ta­tions, re­searchers may fi­nal­ly know why

A class of po­tent can­cer treat­ments could shine brighter than pre­vi­ous­ly thought in a broad­er ar­ray of pa­tients, new re­search sug­gests.

PARP in­hibitors, in­clud­ing As­traZeneca’s $AZN pi­o­neer­ing Lyn­parza, Clo­vis’ $CLVS Rubra­ca and GSK’s $GSK Ze­ju­la — work by thwart­ing PARP pro­teins that help re­pair dam­aged DNA in cell — there­by steer­ing can­cer cells on­to a path of an­ni­hi­la­tion. So far, their use has pri­mar­i­ly been in ovar­i­an can­cers con­tain­ing BR­CA mu­ta­tions, rare ge­net­ic mu­ta­tions that dis­able a DNA re­pair path­way in can­cer cells, as well as BR­CA-mu­tat­ed breast can­cer. (Al­though last month, Ze­ju­la was grant­ed pri­or­i­ty re­view to ex­pand its use in late-stage ovar­i­an can­cer pa­tients with or with­out BR­CA mu­ta­tions).

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