PARP inhibitors, a class of cancer medications, present a paradoxical situation: while they are key treatments for various cancers, they can also damage T cells that fight cancer, potentially undermining treatment success. New insights from Chinese medical researchers offer solutions to avoid this issue by preventing PARP-induced harm to T cells.
A collaborative team in Wuhan has developed strategies to prevent T cell damage and demonstrated that these methods enhance the drugs' effectiveness against ovarian tumors, potentially widening the applicability of PARP inhibitors. The challenges are consistent across more than half a dozen medications in this family, according to investigators from Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, and Huazhong University of Science and Technology.
In Science Translational Medicine, Wuhan researchers discuss how PARP inhibitors have become standard for treating epithelial ovarian cancer, but they often fail to eliminate tumors alone. Combining PARP medication with immunotherapies, such as immune checkpoint inhibitors, has been attempted with varied success, adding another layer of complexity to the use of PARP-based treatments.