A new targeted treatment for patients with a germline BRCA mutation: olaparib in pancreatic cancer

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (33) ◽  
pp. 2691-2700
Author(s):  
Helena Verdaguer ◽  
Daniel Acosta ◽  
Teresa Macarulla

Pancreatic cancer has a poor prognosis. Focused efforts in the development of novel treatments of this disease have led to the approval of new combinations. Improvements in knowledge of the biology of these tumors have been made, and it is now widely accepted that a proportion of patients have potentially targetable altered genes. One such gene is BRCA, which confers sensibility to PARP inhibitors. Olaparib, an oral PARP inhibitor, initially demonstrated activity in Phase II clinical trials including germline BRCA-mutated patients. This was confirmed in a Phase III clinical trial in pancreatic cancer patients with a germline BRCA mutation. After the results of this study, new scenarios have been evoked. We review the development of olaparib in pancreatic cancer.

Open Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1143-1149
Author(s):  
Meiying Shen ◽  
Huawen Pan ◽  
Yuxia Chen ◽  
Yu Hang Xu ◽  
Weixiong Yang ◽  
...  

AbstractTriple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a particularly aggressive subtype known for its extremely high drug resistance, progression, poor prognosis, and lack of clear therapeutic targets. Researchers are aiming to advance TNBC treatment worldwide. In the past 2–3 years, more positive results have emerged in the clinical research on TNBC treatment. Based on the results, several impressive drugs have been approved to benefit patients with TNBC, including the PARP inhibitors olaparib and talazoparib for germline BRCA mutation-associated breast cancer (gBRCAm-BC) and immunotherapy using the checkpoint inhibitor atezolizumab in combination with nab-paclitaxel for programmed cell death-ligand 1-positive (PD-L1+) advanced TNBC. Although neoadjuvant therapy has focused on combinations of systemic agents to optimize pathologically complete response, metastatic TNBC still has a poor prognosis. Innovative multidrug combination systemic therapies based on neoadjuvants and adjuvants have led to significant improvements in outcomes, particularly over the past decade.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 232470961986498 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trevanne Matthews Hew ◽  
Lara Zuberi

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 20% of breast cancers diagnosed worldwide. This subtype of breast cancer tends to behave more aggressively, and unlike other breast cancer subtypes, there are no standard targeted treatments for most patients. However, up to 20% of patients with TNBC harbor a breast cancer gene (BRCA) mutation, particularly in BRCA1. For patients who carry this gene mutation, this opens the door for new management options by the use of newer agents such as polyadenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase (PARP) inhibitors in the metastatic setting. Given that this is uncommon and that PARP inhibitors have only recently received Federal Drug Administration approval, the experience with these drugs is relatively new. In this article, we present a case of a patient treated in this setting with olaparib who developed an unanticipated side effect as a result of the high efficacy of the drug.


ESMO Open ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. e001110
Author(s):  
Susana Banerjee ◽  
Antonio Gonzalez-Martin ◽  
Philipp Harter ◽  
Domenica Lorusso ◽  
Kathleen N Moore ◽  
...  

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor maintenance therapy is the latest breakthrough in the management of newly diagnosed advanced ovarian cancer. The results of the SOLO-1 trial in 2018 led to European Medicines Agency and Food and Drug Administration approval of olaparib as first-line maintenance therapy in patients with BRCA1/2 mutation, establishing a new standard of care. Subsequently, the results of three phase III trials (PRIMA, PAOLA-1, VELIA) evaluating the use of first-line PARP inhibitors beyond patients with BRCA1/2 mutations and as combination strategies were presented in 2019, leading to the recent approval of maintenance niraparib irrespective of biomarker status and olaparib in combination with bevacizumab in homologous recombination deficiency-positive-associated advanced ovarian cancer. An ESMO Open - Cancer Horizons round-table expert panel discussed the four phase III trials of first-line PARP inhibitor therapy and how they are changing the clinical management of advanced ovarian cancer.


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