Biomarkers discovered to cisplatin-resistant cancer cells

Scientists at University Paris Descartes in Paris, France, identified biomarkers in non-small cell lung cancer cells that prove resistant to the chemotherapy drug cisplatin. Cells that showed resistance all had high, hyperactivated levels of the protein poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP1), plus poly (ADP-ribosyl) (PAR). These biomarkers proved themselves even more once the investigators treated cisplatin-resistant non-small cell lung cancer cell lines with two PARP inhibitors--the cancer cells died. "This has clear implications for new treatment regimens and for developing biomarkers of response to cisplatin," researcher Guido Kroemer said in a statement. Details of their work are published in the journal Cancer Research. Release