Int J Biol Sci 2017; 13(2):198-208. doi:10.7150/ijbs.17240 This issue Cite
Review
1. Department of Biology, Nazarbayev University, School of Science and Technology, Astana, 010000, Republic of Kazakhstan;
2. Department of Pathology, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China.
* Co-first authors.
One of the DNA repair machineries is activated by Poly (ADP-ribose) Polymerase (PARP) enzyme. Particularly, this enzyme is involved in repair of damages to single-strand DNA, thus decreasing the chances of generating double-strand breaks in the genome. Therefore, the concept to block PARP enzymes by PARP inhibitor (PARPi) was appreciated in cancer treatment. PARPi has been designed and tested for many years and became a potential supplement for the conventional chemotherapy. However, increasing evidence indicates the appearance of the resistance to this treatment. Specifically, cancer cells may acquire new mutations or events that overcome the positive effect of these drugs. This paper describes several molecular mechanisms of PARPi resistance which were reported most recently, and summarizes some strategies to reverse this type of drug resistance.
Keywords: PARP, PARP inhibitor, drug resistance, DNA repair