Page 7 - Flipbook

Mechanism of Action of PARP Inhibitors

In HRR-deficient cancer cells treated with olaparib, double strand breaks can only be repaired using error-prone

pathways, which ultimately lead to cell death 1

PARP inhibitor Increase in
PARP
double strand breaks in
replicating cells

Trapped PARP on single PARP
strand breaks PARP inhibitor

Double strand break

HRR-deficient cancer cell Normal cell

Reliance on error-prone pathways

leads to accumulation of genomic  Repair of double strand breaks via the ✓
instability and cell death HRR pathway and cell survival

HRR, homologous recombination repair; MOA, mechanism of action; PARP, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase
O’Connor MJ. Mol Cell 2015;60:547–60.