Most human tumors accumulate a multitude of genetic changes due to defects in the DNA damage response. Recently, small-molecule inhibitors have been developed that target cells with specific DNA repair defects, providing hope for precision treatment of such tumors. Here we discuss the rationale behind these therapies and how an important bottleneck-patient selection-can be approached.
© 2016 van Gent and Kanaar. This article is distributed by The American Society for Cell Biology under license from the author(s). Two months after publication it is available to the public under an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported Creative Commons License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0).