Lynparza As Upfront Treatment for Ovarian Cancer
- PARP inhibitors block the ability of cancer cells to repair damaged DNA, causing the cancerous cells to die.
- Women with the BRCA gene mutation can receive the PARP inhibitor Lynparza (olaparib) after complete or partial response to first-line platinum-based chemotherapy.
- PARP inhibitors do have some varying side effects, so you should speak to your oncologist about whether the treatment is right for you.
PARP Inhibitors As Up-Front Treatment
Nearly all women with ovarian cancer receive as treatment a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. Unfortunately, many women experience a recurrence after the first round of chemotherapy. In other words, the cancer comes back. “Unfortunately, most of our patients with ovarian cancer develop recurrence after completion of their treatment, which includes surgery and chemotherapy,” says Dr. Dorigo.
Read More A clinical trial looked at preventing recurrence from occurring by giving a PARP inhibitor to patients directly after their first round of chemotherapy. The trial tested whether Olaparib should be used in ovarian cancer patients with a BRCA mutation after initial treatment (surgery and chemo) for ovarian, primary peritoneal or fallopian tube cancer. This trial demonstrated a significant improvement in the time to recurrence in women with the BRCA mutation who received Olaparib. In fact, at three years of treatment with Olaparib, more than half of the patients had avoided a recurrence altogether.
Why BRCA?
The reason the trial focuses on women with BRCA mutations is because they are particularly susceptible to PARP inhibitors. Tumor cells with these mutations have problems repairing DNA already, and the PARP inhibitors accelerate these problems, causing cancer cells to die. Women can either have the BRCA mutation in all the cells in their body, known as a germline mutation, or in just their tumor cells, known as a somatic mutation. Women in the SOLO1 trial have germline BRCA mutations, which only 14% of women worldwide have. Given the success of the SOLO1 trial, you should consider speaking to your doctor about taking Olaparib ‘up-front’, regardless of your genetics and cancer stage.Learn more about the side effects of PARP inhibitors here.
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