PARPi-induced synthetic lethality for acute myeloid leukaemia treatment

Genomic instability is one of the most common and critical characteristics of cancer cells. The combined effect of replication stress and DNA damage repair defects associated with various oncogenic events drives genomic instability and the disease progression. However, these DNA repair defects found in cancer cells can also provide unique therapeutic opportunities, which also form the basis of synthetic lethal targeting of solid tumours carrying BRCA mutations. While the idea of utilising synthetic lethality as a therapy strategy has been gaining momentum and progress in various solid tumours, its application in leukaemia still largely lags behind. In this article, we will review the recent advances in understanding the roles of DNA damage response in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and examine the potential therapeutic avenues of using PARP inhibitors in AML treatment.