Dr. Lynce on Remaining Questions With PARP Inhibitors in Breast Cancer

Filipa Lynce, MD, medical oncologist at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center and an assistant professor of medicine at Georgetown University, discusses remaining questions regarding the use of PARP inhibitors in breast cancer.

More information regarding the use of PARP inhibitors in breast cancer continues to emerge as more research is conducted, says Lynce. Notably, olaparib (Lynparza) received FDA approval for use in patients with HER2-negative metastatic breast cancers that harbor germline BRCA 1/2 mutations and talazoparib (Talzenna) received regulatory approval for use in patients with deleterious or suspected deleterious germline BRCA-mutated HER2-negative, locally advanced or metastatic disease, adds Lynce.

Ongoing research efforts are dedicated to understanding whether the efficacy of PARP inhibitors in patients with these germline mutations can be increased by combining these agents with other drugs, such as immunotherapy. Other efforts are examining whether PARP inhibitor combinations can also have a role in the treatment of those without germline mutations, says Lynce.

Questions remain regarding how to sequence these drugs, adds Lynce. Should they be used in the first-line setting? As single agents? In the maintenance setting? Interesting data have recently been reported with PARP inhibitors in combination with immunotherapy, says Lynce. Future research will focus on examining the utility of these agents in the maintenance setting, concludes Lynce.