Bone and soft tissue sarcomas are mesenchymal tumors that occur rarely in adults, representing only 1% of total malignancies, but comprise up to 13% of malignant tumors in children.1 Rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue sarcoma that commonly affects children, and osteosarcoma, a common bone sarcoma, exhibit aggressive tendency to metastasize and are associated with poor prognosis, high recurrence, and treatment failure.1 Sarcoma, as well as other forms of cancer, can be treated with chemotherapeutic drugs that inhibit the actions of the poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase enzyme family, which catalyze the transfer of ADP-ribose to proteins and contribute to the repair of single-stranded DNA breaks.2 Because some sarcoma cell lines display reduced DNA repair activity, these tumors might be relying on the PARP pathway for regular repair and maintenance of DNA during division.3 Because of this, PARP inhibition is targeted by molecules such as BMN673 (talazoparib), which has shown success as a treatment for BRCA1/2 and PTEN-deficient cell lines.2,4 BMN673, a recently developed PARP inhibitor with excellent in vitro activity, has been shown to increase tumor radiation sensitivity to a far greater extent than other PARP inhibitors; this action has been demonstrated to reduce tumor progression in vitro and shows promise as a treatment strategy in the clinic.2 Our study shows that the combination of BMN673 with radiation therapy reduces final rhabdomyosarcoma tumor size and slows tumor progression in mice.The Comprehensive Cancer CenterNo embargoAcademic Major: Neuroscienc
