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Clinical Trials Investigating PARP Inhibitors as Single Agents

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PARP Inhibitors for Cancer Therapy

Part of the book series: Cancer Drug Discovery and Development ((CDD&D,volume 83))

Abstract

Several drugs targeting poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) enzymes are in clinical development. One of the most novel potential uses of PARP inhibitors is as single agents exploiting the concept of “synthetic lethality” in settings where the DNA homologous recombination repair (HRR) pathway is compromised—e.g. with PARP inhibitor monotherapy for tumours with germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2. Accumulating evidence suggests that PARP inhibitors may have a wider application in the treatment of sporadic cancers with defective HRR pathways. Several phase I and II trials have reported PARP inhibitors to be efficacious with favorable side effect profiles. While there have indeed been some setbacks in the development of this class of drugs, major concerns with regards to PARP inhibitor specificity, patient selection or toxicity have or are being addressed. At least five agents have now entered late stage phase III drug development in an effort to gain regulatory approval and advance the field of PARP inhibitor therapy. The aim of this chapter is to provide an update on the current status of single agent PARP inhibitor clinical trials.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Unit, Department of Research Oncology, Guy’s Hospital King’s College London School of Medicine, SE1 9RT, London, UK

    Sheena Irshad & Andrew Tutt

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  1. Sheena Irshad
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  2. Andrew Tutt
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Correspondence to Andrew Tutt .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Northern Institute for Cancer Research and Newcastle University Institute for Ageing Medical School, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

    Nicola J. Curtin

  2. CRUK-MRC Oxford Institute for Radiation Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Ricky A. Sharma

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Irshad, S., Tutt, A. (2015). Clinical Trials Investigating PARP Inhibitors as Single Agents. In: Curtin, N., Sharma, R. (eds) PARP Inhibitors for Cancer Therapy. Cancer Drug Discovery and Development, vol 83. Humana Press, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14151-0_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14151-0_21

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