REVIEW article
Front. Oncol.
Sec. Pharmacology of Anti-Cancer Drugs
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2025.1702121
PARP Inhibitors as Radiosensitizers: A Comprehensive Review of Preclinical Evidence and Clinical Applications
Provisionally accepted
- 1Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, China
- 2Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China
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Poly (ADP ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1) plays a central role in the response of DNA damage induced by tumor radiotherapy. This paper systematically reviewed the structural and functional characteristics of PARP1 and its molecular mechanism in DNA damage repair, and focused on the preclinical evidence and clinical transformation research progress of PARP inhibitor (parpi) as a radiosensitizer. PARP1 affects the effect of radiotherapy by recognizing DNA breakage, catalyzing par modification and regulating repair pathway, while parpi significantly enhances radiosensitivity by inhibiting DNA repair, inducing synthetic lethal effect and regulating immune microenvironment. Although preclinical studies have shown good prospects in a variety of solid tumors, clinical transformation still faces challenges such as heterogeneity of efficacy and drug resistance mechanism. Future research should focus on precise treatment strategies, joint scheme optimization and drug resistance mechanism exploration, so as to promote the wide application of parpi in radiotherapy.This article presents a narrative review of the preclinical and clinical evidence supporting the use of PARP inhibitors as radiosensitizers.
Keywords: PARP1, Radiotherapy, DNA damage repair, PARP inhibitors, radiosensitization, synthetic lethality, Tumor Microenvironment, precision therapy
Received: 09 Sep 2025; Accepted: 22 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yang, Gao, Sun, Dong and Luo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xiaodong Luo, ldyy_luoxd@lzu.edu.cn
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