I Called...And Hope Answered!

So, I had just pressed “publish” on the new blog post I wrote this evening when this new link and headline popped up in my e-mail box from the National Cancer Research Institute:

First Evidence of New “Druggable” DNA Repair Target to Destroy Cancer Cells

It just so happens that this latest news involves the PARP Inhibitor — a new discovery and possibly even more effective or additional version of the very drug I’m on.

The article speaks to blocking a key DNA damage repair enzyme called APE1:

This technique of blocking two repair routes is already being used with a new class of drugs called PARP inhibitors. These prevent cells fixing faults in BRCA-deficient cells by blocking PARP, a key enzyme in the same repair pathway as APE1.

APE1, like PARP, is essential for carrying out a type of DNA damage repair – removing and correcting faulty DNA components – but has a more specific role in this repair process compared to the PARP enzymes.

The research suggests that APE1 could provide an additional drug target to PARP.

Looks like more great news on the horizon for people like me, who carry a fault in either the BRCA 1 or BRCA 2 gene.

What are the chances that this news would appear in my in-box at that very moment?

Hope is alive, indeed.

Copyright 2011, Amy Rauch Neilson

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