In the current study it was hypothesized that combination treatment of Nutlin-3/RG7388 with rucaparib further activates the p53 pathway by inhibition of PARP and results in enhanced induction and stabilization of p53 via Nutlin-3/RG7388 treatment to increase growth arrest and/or apoptosis in wild-type TP53 ovarian cancer cell lines. The gene discussed is PARP1; the disease is ovarian cancer.