Dr. Slamon on PARP Inhibitors in Ovarian Cancer

Dennis J. Slamon, MD, PhD, director, Clinical/Translational Research, Revlon/University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Women's Cancer Research Program, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCLA, discusses the use of PARP inhibitors in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer.

Many possibilities have been looked at in the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer. One of these possibilities, explains Slamon, is using PARP inhibitors to their fullest potential. This means using them at them at their full dose or near full dose. When physicians introduce a cytotoxic combination to the mix, Slamon says that it should be given at a minimal dose. A minimal dose, he explains, would be 15% of the standard dose—something that he says is almost unheard of.

Physicians would never administer that low of a dose with chemotherapy alone as it would have almost no impact on the tumor. However, full dose PARP inhibition may enable physicians to impact that pathway with minimal DNA damage, so that patients experience profound clinical impact on their tumor while sparing normal tissue.