2008 Ann and Sol Schreiber Mentored Investigator Award Recipient — Lejla Delic, MD
Project Summary
PARP-Inhibitors represent an exciting new class of drugs that are proving to be highly effective for women with hereditary ovarian cancer. Women with inherited mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 (roughly 5 percent to 10 percent of all patients) seem to be particularly sensitive to these oral drugs, which have few side-effects. Dr. Delic is focused on trying to understand how PARP-Inhibitors cause cancer cell death. Using tissue culture and animal models, she hopes to test whether a lack of oxygen in ovarian cancer cells makes them susceptible to PARP-inhibitors. Her findings may lead to extending the use of these drugs in women with ovarian cancer who do not have an inherited gene mutation.