Lynparza and its companion diagnostic test, BRACAnalysis were approved by the US FDA in December 2014 for recurrent ovarian cancer in women with a germline BRCA mutation. Women with a deleterious BRCA mutation are predisposed to ovarian cancer due to deficient homologous recombination repair. Inhibition of the PARP enzyme forces use of an alternate error-prone pathway for repair; PARP trapping is another mechanism utilized that blocks cellular replication by trapping inactivated PARP onto single-stranded DNA breaks. Although many companion diagnostic kits are already in use in oncology, BRACAnaylsis is unique in several ways including comprehensive BRCA gene germline profiling, availability to all women with ovarian cancer and implications for family members.
Keywords: BRCA mutation; Lynparza; PARP inhibitor; companion diagnostic; hereditary; ovarian cancer.