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Standard therapy for advanced ovarian cancer (OC) consists of radical debulking cytoreductive surgery followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. An important risk factor for OC is genetic predisposition, with BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations accounting for the majority of hereditary OC. Mutation in BRCA ultimately causes accumulation of genetic alterations because of the failure of cells to arrest and repair DNA damage or to undergo apoptosis, resulting in tumorigenesis. Poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors have emerged as a promising approach for managing BRCA-associated cancers, especially high-grade OC and breast cancers. They lead to synthetic lethality in BRCA-mutated cells by stalling the replication forks in homologous recombination-deficient (HR) cells. Four PARP inhibitors (olaparib, niraparib, rucaparib, and talazoparib) are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for OC, breast, and pancreatic cancer indications and are being evaluated for other BRCA-associated cancers. Despite their clinical efficacy, cancer cells generally develop resistance to them through several mechanisms. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for developing strategies to counter resistance and identify the basic mechanisms of DNA damage response. This review focuses on the mechanism of action of PARP inhibitors, understanding various causes of resistance, and building strategies to overcome PARP inhibitor resistance.

To gain insights on the diverse practice patterns and treatment pathways for prostate cancer (PC) in India, the Urological Cancer Foundation convened the first Indian survey to discuss all aspects of PC, with the objective of guiding clinicians on optimizing management in PC. A modified Delphi method was used, wherein a multidisciplinary panel of oncologists treating PC across India developed a questionnaire related to screening, diagnosis and management of early, locally advanced and metastatic PC and participated in a web-based survey (WBS) (n = 62). An expert committee meeting (CM) (n = 48, subset from WBS) reviewed the ambiguous questions for better comprehension and reanalyzed the evidence to establish a revote for specific questions. The threshold for strong agreement and agreement was ≥90% and ≥75% agreement, respectively. Sixty-two questions were answered in the WBS; in the CM 31 questions were revoted and 4 questions were added. The panelists selected answers based on their best opinion and closest to their practice strategy, not considering financial constraints and access challenges. Of the 66 questions, strong agreement was reached for 17 questions and agreement was achieved for 22 questions. There were heterogeneous responses for 27 questions indicative of variegated management approaches. This is one of the first Indian survey, documenting the diverse clinical practice patterns in the management of PC in India. It aims to provide guidance in the face of technological advances, resource constraints and sparse high-level evidence.