Current status and future prospects of PARP inhibitor clinical trials in ovarian cancer

Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors are a class of targeted agents for the treatment of solid tumors. Concurrent PARP inhibition in Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene (BRCA)-mutated or homologous recombination-deficient tumor cells can induce “synthetic lethality”, which targets two DNA repair pathways and induces serious cytotoxicity to tumor cells without damaging normal cells. Currently, PARP inhibitors such as olaparib, rucaparib and niraparib, which improve progression-free survival, particularly in patients harboring BRCA mutations, are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicine Agency (EMA) for the treatment of ovarian cancers. Based on the results of different clinical trials, the indications for these drugs are slightly different. PARP inhibitors have been studied both as single agents and in combination with chemotherapy, antiangiogenic agents, and ionizing radiation. This review summarizes the critical clinical trials of PARP inhibitors that have been completed, provides an overview of the ongoing trials, presents the confirmed conclusions and notes the issues that need to be addressed in future studies.