[Image from Cleveland Clinic]
9. PARP inhibitors for prostate cancer
One in nine men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their life. It is the second-leading cause of cancer death among men, according to the Cleveland Clinic.
Pharmacological inhibitors for cancer treatment (PARP inhibitors) block proteins called PARP that help repair damaged tumor DNA in people with BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations. Two PARP inhibitors have been successful in women’s cancer and have been demonstrated to delay the progression of prostate cancer in men with refractory cancer and DNA repair pathway mutations.
“We know a lot about PARP inhibitors from the GYN field in ovarian cancer and breast cancer where it’s been shown to help patients and improve clinical outcomes,” Dr. Moshe Ornstein, Cleveland Clinic associate staff in the hematology and medical oncology department, said at the Cleveland Clinic Medical Innovation Summit. “It’s only recently in 2020 where PARP inhibitors have come into play in terms of FDA approval in prostate cancer in prostate cancer, although their development has been underway for many years in prostate cancer patients.”
Both PARP inhibitors were approved for prostate cancer in May this year.
“We know we have these treatments that are more toxic than others. What sets PARP inhibitors aside is the fact that they are selected for a specific patient population within prostate cancer,” Ornstein said.
