Combination of PARP and KRASG12D inhibitors enhances therapeutic efficacy by exploiting vulnerabilities in PDAC
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a highly aggressive malignancy driven predominantly by KRAS mutations, with KRAS<sup>G12D</sup> present in ~40 % of cases. Although the selective KRAS<sup>G12D</sup> inhibitor MRTX1133 shows promising activity, monotherapy responses are incomplete and resistance emerges rapidly. In this study, we show that KRAS<sup>G12D</sup> blockade suppresses homologous-recombination (HR) repair by downregulating BRCA1, RAD51, and RPA32, creating a state of HR deficiency that sensitizes PDAC cells to poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibition. Combined MRTX1133 and olaparib treatment produced synergistic cytotoxicity in vitro and durable tumor regression in vivo, even in MRTX1133-resistant models, and remodeled the tumor immune microenvironment with enhanced CD8<sup>+</sup> T-cell infiltration. These findings demonstrate that co-targeting KRAS<sup>G12D</sup> and PARP exploits an induced DNA-repair vulnerability to achieve synthetic lethality and immune activation in KRAS<sup>G12D</sup>-driven PDAC.
Authors
- Changying Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0115-7507)
- Somaira Nowsheen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7174-5366)
- Khaled Aziz
- M Q Deng
- Zhenyu Huo
- Xin Chen
- Zhenkun Lou
- Fan Yao
- Rongli Xu
- Xin Xu
Institutions
- Mayo Clinic (US)
- Johns Hopkins University (US)
- Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN)
- Huazhong Agricultural University (CN)
- Johns Hopkins Medicine (US)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- National Cancer Center (US)
- Mayo Clinic in Arizona (US)
- Mayo Clinic in Florida (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2026-02-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-69695-4
- Primary Topic
- PARP inhibition in cancer therapy
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00