What is PARP?
- PARP is a family of enzymes (mainly PARP-1 and PARP-2) involved in DNA repair, particularly base excision repair of single-strand breaks.
- Role in Cancer:
PARP helps repair DNA damage in cells. Cancer cells with defects in other DNA repair pathways—like those with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations—are highly dependent on PARP to survive. - Therapeutic Target:
PARP inhibitors (e.g., olaparib, niraparib, rucaparib, talazoparib) block PARP activity, leading to accumulation of DNA damage and cancer cell death, especially in tumors with homologous recombination repair defects (e.g., BRCA-mutated cancers).
Clinical Use of PARP Inhibitors
- Indications include:
- BRCA-mutated metastatic breast cancer
- Ovarian cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Pancreatic cancer
- Often used as maintenance therapy or in advanced settings.