Overcoming Resistance to PARP Inhibitors in Ovarian Cancer

Shannon N. Westin, MD, MPH, clinical investigator, Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses resistance seen with PARP inhibitors in ovarian cancer and how this resistance can be overcome.

Westin says that she predominantly sees resistance after what she calls the “treatment phase” rather than in patients given PARP inhibitors in the maintenance setting. These patients experiencing resistance often have either germline or somaticBRCAmutations and were treated with single-agent PARP inhibitors in the recurrent setting.