Olaparib shows promise in treating ovarian cancer, even without BRCA mutations
Sunday, August 21, 2011 - 17:30
in Health & Medicine
The PARP inhibitor, olaparib, that has shown promise in women with an inherited mutation in their BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene (accounting for about 5-10% of breast and ovarian cancer cases), has, for the first time, been shown to reduce the size of tumours in a much wider group of ovarian cancer patients without these BRCA gene mutations. The findings, published Online First in The Lancet Oncology, highlight the potential of olaparib to treat patients with more common sporadic (non-hereditary) tumours and could offer a new treatment option for one of the most deadly cancers in women.