A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that PARP-Inhibitors may be of potential use in men who are no longer responding to standard treatments and carry either somatic (i.e., tumor) and/or germline (inherited) mutations in DNA-repair genes (i.e., BRCA1/2, ATM, Fanconi Anemia genes and CHEK2).1 Of 49 men with prostate cancer evaluated through the study, 16 (33%) had somatic mutations in DNA-repair genes. Of these 16 patients, 14 (88%) responded to the PARP-inhibitor drug (Olaparib), including all 7 patients with BRCA2 mutations (3 with germline mutations and the other 4 with somatic mutations only) and 4 of the 5 ATM mutation carriers. These findings further demonstrate the potential importance of PARP-inhibitors among men with DNA-repair gene mutations in their prostate cancers; however, further studies are needed before these drugs can be considered for routine clinical use.
1Mateo J, et al. NEJM. 2015 Oct 29;373(18):1697-708. PMID: 26510020.