Congratulations to Ryan!

Congratulations to second year ICB-CDT student Ryan Howard who has had his work, in collaboration with AstraZeneca,  on PARP6 in breast cancer published in Cancer Research.

PARP (poly ADP-ribose polymerase) proteins are post-translational modification enzymes with multiple functions. The paper reports a novel therapeutic strategy by targeting PARP6 using the first reported PARP6 inhibitors. Following screening for the effect of compounds on mitotic defects, a link between PARP6 inhibition and multipolar spindle formation was discovered. This led to the observation of antitumor effects in vivo after treatment with one of AstraZeneca’s known PARP6 inhibitors. In addition, checkpoint kinase 1, an important enzyme involved in the cell’s DNA damage response, was identified as a specific substrate of PARP6.