Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors and synthetic lethality

In recent years,some new anticancer strategies have been found with a growing understanding of the underlying biology of cancer.For example,molecular targeting cancer therapy,which is based on the oncogene addiction phenomenon,had proved to be a successful strategy in some specific cancer types.A more recent example came from synthetic lethality which is now showing great promise as a new direction of anticancer drug discovery.Previous research has shown that PARP-1 and BRCA have a relationship of synthetic lethality.We herein describe the rationale of this synthetic lethality and the potential applications of this interaction in anticancer therapy.