Alkylation of nucleobases by 2-chloro--diethylethanamine hydrochloride (CDEAH) sensitizes -deficient tumors.

Targeting - and -deficient tumors through synthetic lethality using poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi) has emerged as a successful strategy for cancer therapy. PARPi monotherapy has shown excellent efficacy and safety profiles in clinical practice but is limited by the need for tumor genome mutations in or other homologous recombination genes as well as the rapid emergence of resistance. In this study, we identified 2-chloro--diethylethanamine hydrochloride (CDEAH) as a small molecule that selectively kills - and xeroderma pigmentosum A-deficient cells.