Precision Tumor Therapy: The Role of PARP Inhibitors in Personalized Medicine
A special issue of Journal of Personalized Medicine (ISSN 2075-4426). This special issue belongs to the section "Personalized Therapy and Drug Delivery".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 466
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Targeting DNA repair mechanisms in malignant cells has emerged as an important therapeutic goal in oncology. The importance of this pathway was recognized in the late 1990s, when it became clear that the BRCA genes contribute to double-strand DNA break repair (homologous recombination), thereby explaining the previously known association of their mutations with cancer. Soon thereafter, inhibition of the single-strand DNA repair mechanism was shown to be lethal in cancers bearing BRCA mutations. This was achieved by inhibiting poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP), a key initiator of the repair complex. This deprivation of DNA repair capacity, termed synthetic lethality, led to the FDA approval (2014) of the first PARP inhibitor, olaparib, for the treatment of BRCA-mutated ovarian cancer. It was later demonstrated that PARP inhibition is also effective in cancers with alterations in non-BRCA HRD-related genes. Several PARP inhibitors—including rucaparib, niraparib, talazoparib, and pamiparib (China)—are now available. Their clinical applications have expanded to include BRCA/HRD-mutated cancers of the prostate, breast, and pancreas. Ongoing research continues to explore their role in other oncologic contexts.
This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the therapeutic advances achieved with PARP inhibitors in clinical practice, to identify potential differences in activity among the various agents, and to highlight experimental or anecdotal evidence of activity in non-established indications. By doing so, it seeks to enable predictions of future applications and to support clinicians in otherwise difficult or seemingly hopeless situations.
We invite submissions of original research articles and reviews that align with the journal’s scope, which include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Molecular biology of PARP and PARP inhibitors;
- PARP inhibitors and Ovarian cancer, Breast Cancer, Cancer of the pancreas, Cancer of the prostate, Endometrial cancer;
- Non-established use of PARP inhibitors;
- Combinations of PARP inhibitors and check-point inhibitors across tumor types.
Dr. Christos Emmanouilides
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journal of Personalized Medicine is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- cancer therapy
- PARP inhibitors
- gynecologic cancers
- PARP inhabitor trials
- personalized medicine
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
