Date of Award

2024

Document Type

Scholarly Project

Degree Name

Master of Physician Assistant Studies (MPAS)

Department

Physician Assistant Studies

First Advisor

Carr, Kristen

Keywords

PARP inhibitors, BRCA mutation, Early Breast Cancer, Locally Advanced Breast Cancer, Metastatic Breast Cancer, and Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Abstract

Of the women diagnosed with breast cancer, approximately 5% will be found to have a germline breast cancer gene mutation (BRCA). This mutation increases the risk for developing a triple negative breast cancer, of which treatment options are limited. PARP inhibitors are a new pharmaceutical that act on the PARP enzyme to stop repair for cancer cells in BRCA mutations (Robson et al., 2017). The purpose of this literature review is to compare efficacy and safety of PARP inhibitor pharmaceuticals to traditional therapy for treatment of BRCA positive HER2 negative breast cancers. A literature review was preformed using the electronic search database PubMed. Both keywords and mesh terms were used to define a set of the literature discussing PARP inhibitor safety and effectiveness in patients with BRCA positive HER2 negative breast cancer. Eight phase two or phase three clinical trials that considered BRCA status were selected for the review, and information was sorted based on early, locally advanced, or metastatic breast cancer stage. Regardless of stage, most clinical trials supported the use of PARP inhibitors for treatment of breast cancer in BRCA positive participants. The one clinical trial that did not show PARP inhibitor benefit did not consider BRCA status for the trial. Most participants tolerated the medication with hematologic deficits, nausea, and vomiting being the most common side effects. This research supports the use of PARP inhibitors in practice with careful monitoring of blood counts in patients with a known BRCA mutation.

Download

Share

COinS