Internal medicine

DNA repair

DNA damage

Synthetic lethality

Polymerase

Biology

Gene

Cancer

Poly ADP ribose polymerase

Cytotoxic T cell

In vitro

Ataxia-telangiectasia

PARP inhibitor

Ovarian cancer

Cancer research

Genetics

Medicine

Cancers

Poly-ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are currently used in the treatment of several cancers carrying mutations in the breast and ovarian cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2, with many more potential applications under study and in clinical trials. Here, we discuss the potential for extending PARP inhibitor therapies to tumours with deficiencies in the DNA damage-activated protein kinase, Ataxia-Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM). We highlight our recent findings that PARP inhibition alone is cytostatic but not cytotoxic in ATM-deficient cancer cells and that the combination of a PARP inhibitor with an ATR (ATM, Rad3-related) inhibitor is required to induce cell death.

ATM-Deficient Cancers Provide New Opportunities for Precision Oncology