Synthetic lethality in personalized cancer therapy

Genomic instability is one of the hallmarks of tumors that contributes to tumor heterogeneity and drug resistance. Genetically targeted cancer therapy that focused on genome instability has been a direction for tumor treatment of great interest. Synthetic lethality provides a new approach for the treatment of tumor suppressor gene especially DNA damage response pathway mutation-caused cancers that were not considered as a target in traditional genetic treatment previously. Here, we summarize the systematic classification of synthetic lethality and its mechanism which was divided into gene level, including cellular signaling pathway, cell cycle regulation, metabolism, and epigenetic regulation. The goal of this review was to help deepen the understanding of the mechanism of synthetic lethality and guide the direction for exploring the new synthetic lethal relationships.