ACTG Dinner Symposium Highlights | Beyond BRCA testing - does HRD matter? | Prof Michael Friedlander

Homologous recombination repair (HRR) is an important mechanism for DNA double-strand damage repair. The BRCA genes play a key role in HRR and loss-of-function mutations in the BRCA genes will result in functional disabilities that may cause homologous recombination deficiency (HRD). In addition, mutations in other HRR pathway genes have also been shown to result in HRD and alternatively, HRD can be identified by analysing the genome-wide instability in the tumor specimen. HRD is emerging as an alternative biomarker for PARP inhibitors with this year especially reporting a multitude of positive trial results. With 10-20% of BRCA-associated tumors harbouring HRD, PARP inhibitors now show promise beyond BRCA mutated tumors for a larger patient pool.