Dr. Richards on PARP Inhibition in Pancreatic Cancer

Donald A. Richards, MD, PhD, medical oncologist, Texas Oncology, discusses PARP inhibition in patients with pancreatic cancer.

Patients with pancreatic cancer who have BRCA mutations are unable to repair double-strand breaks in the DNA. PARP inhibitors increase the number of single-strand breaks.

Patients with BRCA mutations have the lethal mutations accumulate. A normal cell without the BRCA mutation can repair itself, but the dual PARP inhibition in the DNA repair for patients with BRCA mutations leads to cell death.