A systems biology approach to tackle PARP-inhibitors resistance and identify novel therapeutic targets to overcome it

2026-07-22

Inhibition of PARP1 in cancer therapy is a recently adopted strategy to treat cancers where DNA repair is defective, such as breast and ovarian cancer caused by mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2. In addition, PARP1 inhibitors (PARPi) can be useful even in the absence of BRCA mutations, likely due to pathogenic variants or epigenetic inactivation of other DNA repair related genes. However, development of resistance to PARPi is a significant challenge. To address this challenge, I propose to identify proteins that modulate PARP1 activity that could be used as additional therapeutic targets. The strength of this project is based on a systems biology overall strategy exploiting multiple independent datasets to identify candidates protein interactors, followed by a rigorous biochemical and genetic approach to characterize this interaction. Analysis of identified proteins and their role in PARPi resistance will be achieved at three main levels: a) in-silico and molecular studies of the interaction; b) influence on PARP1 activity and role in PARPi resistance after CRISPR-cas9 editing; c) expression levels in breast and ovarian cancer tissues. Results from this project will illuminate mechanisms of PARPi resistance and generate potential targets for therapy in breast and ovarian cancer. These results will contribute to the reduction in mortality due to breast and ovarian cancer and they will give an answer to this world-wide diffuse challenge.

Italy

2026-02-01