Non-small cell lung cancer cells with deficiencies in homologous recombination genes are sensitive to PARP inhibitors

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death worldwide. PARP inhibitors have become a new line of cancer therapy and a successful demonstration of the synthetic lethality concept. The mechanism and efficacy of PARP inhibitors have been well studied in some cancers, especially homologous recombination (HR)-deficient ovarian cancer and breast cancer, yet such studies are still relatively fewer in lung cancer. Here we found that HR genes are frequently mutated in lung cancer patients, exposing a window for targeted therapies by PARP inhibitors. We depleted BRCA1 and BRCA2 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cancer cells and found these cells are hypersensitive to the PARP inhibitor olaparib in cell viability and clonogenic survival assays. Olaparib specifically induces apoptosis in A549 cells with BRCA1 or BRCA2 depletion, as determined by positive Annexin-V staining. In addition, we show that A549 cells with ATM shRNA knockdown are also hypersensitive to Olaparib. In summary, our data support the potential use of PARP inhibitors in NSCLC with HR deficiency. •Homologous recombination (HR) genes including ATM, BRCA1, and BRCA2 are frequently mutated in lung cancer patients.•Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells with deficiencies in those HR genes are hypersensitive to PARP inhibitors.•Our results support the synthetic lethality relationship between HR and PARP in NSCLC and suggest PARP inhibitors may be a beneficial therapy for NSCLC patients with HR deficiency.