Crosstalk of DNA double-strand break repair pathways in PARP inhibitor treatment of BRCA1/2-mutated Cancer

Summary

Germ-line mutations in breast cancer susceptibility gene 1 or 2 (BRCA1 or BRCA2) significantly increase cancer risk in hereditary breast and ovarian cancer syndrome (HBOC). Both genes function in the homologous recombination (HR) pathway of DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair process. Therefore, the DNA-repair defect characteristic in cancer cells brings therapeutic advantage for Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor-induced synthetic lethality. The PARP inhibitor-based therapeutics initially causes cancer lethality but acquired resistance mechanisms have been found and need to be elucidated. In particular, it is essential to understand the mechanism of DNA damage and repair to PARP inhibitor treatment in detail. Further investigations have shown the roles of BRCA1/2 and its associations to other molecules in the DSB repair system. Notably, the repair pathway chosen in BRCA1-deficient cells could be entirely different from that in BRCA2-deficient cells after PARP inhibitor treatment. This review describes synthetic lethality and acquired resistance mechanisms to PARP inhibitor via the DSB repair pathway and subsequent repair process. In addition, recent knowledge of resistance mechanisms is discussed. Our model should contribute to the development of novel therapeutic strategies.

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