Identification of PARP inhibitors for cancer therapy (360G-Wellcome-101816_Z_13_A)

While effective treatments for many forms of cancer exist, therapies that are tailored for patients with niche forms of the disease, such as triple negative breast cancer are currently unavailable. The Trust has awarded £3.9 million over three years to Prof. Alan Ashworth, FRS, Dr. Christopher Lord, Prof. Caroline Springer and Prof. Laurence Pearl, FRS, for the development of orally available small molecules that could target specific cancer subtypes. Researchers led by Prof Alan Ashworth and Dr Christopher Lord have pioneered the exploitation of novel therapeutic approaches such as synthetic lethality and the use of PARP inhibitors in cancer treatment. PARP (Poly ADP-Ribose Polymerase) enzymes modify proteins and control cell function by catalyzing the addition of poly (ADP-ribose) polymers onto substrates. With funding from the Trust, Ashworth, Lord, Springer and Pearl, in collaboration with Domainex, will develop novel small molecule inhibitors that target additional PARP superfamily members. These inhibitors will be assessed in specific tumour models and then progressed into clinical candidates that could be ultimately assessed in drug trials that target cancer subtypes for which there is significant unmet clinical need.