Researchers from the University of Helsinki developed a new genetic test to identify ovarian cancer patients who benefited from PARP inhibitors, according to a study published in the journal Precision Oncology. PARP inhibitors are a type of targeted drug that is used to treat ovarian cancer.

Recently, for individuals diagnosed with ovarian cancer, maintenance therapy with PARP inhibitors after cytostatic therapy and surgery has shown outstanding outcomes. Because PARP inhibitor therapy is associated with potentially serious side effects, it is critical to be able to target it to the patients who will benefit the most from it.

As a result, this new genetic test was developed to identify patients who do not benefit from the drug, thus avoiding unnecessary treatment and the adverse effects associated with the drug. The lead author of the study explained that more than half of patients with ovarian cancer have a deficiency in a specific DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) repair pathway. Cancer cells with this deficiency are unable to accurately repair breaks in the DNA double strand, which causes the accumulation of DNA lesions.

This new genetic test, developed with the help of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and statistics, helped in detecting the genetic lesions related to homologous recombination DNA-repair deficiency (HRD) specific to ovarian cancer.

(Source: https://www.indiatvnews.com/health/finnish-researchers-develop-new-genetic-test-to-improve-ovarian-cancer-treatment-2023-01-12-838557 )