A research team has developed OPTAR, a computational tool for discovering novel therapeutic targets from large-scale omics data. Designed to identify proteins without known drugs or prior disease links, OPTAR integrates literature mining, protein-protein interaction-based disease inference, and binding-pocket assessment. Using hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as a test case, the tool prioritized UBE2J1, KDELR3, and VTI1A as functional targets, offering a practical route from complex omics datasets to first-in-class drug discovery.

A research team from Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) reports that a groundbreaking pathway-targeted therapy could be an effective treatment for certain melanoma patients and fill an unmet clinical need for patients with advanced disease.

Martin McMahon, PhD, senior director of preclinical translation at Huntsman Cancer Institute and professor of dermatology at the U, evaluated an investigative compound of the drug daraxonrasib in NRAS-driven melanoma.

Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have reported results from a large international clinical trial showing that semaglutide, a medication in the GLP-1 class of drugs widely used to treat diabetes and obesity, may help reduce liver scarring in patients with advanced fatty liver disease, including those with early-stage cirrhosis.

The study results, published in the online edition of The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, address a major unmet need for people with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH),

Modern medicine increasingly relies on targeted drug delivery, a process during which therapeutic molecules are transported directly to specific organs or even certain cell types. To do this, drugs are often packaged inside biocompatible particles (nanoparticles), commonly composed of different fat molecules.

The efficiency of the delivery process is determined by many characteristics of the particles.

In the United States, prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related disease and death in men.

About half of prostate cancer cases in patients of European ancestry have a gene rearrangement where the genes TMPRSS2 and ERG are fused together. This causes the ERG protein to be turned on, increasing the growth and migration of tumor cells.

Accumulation of DNA damage in the brain’s neurons may contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. New research in FEBS Open Bio demonstrates the therapeutic potential of a drug that targets this process.

Using a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, investigators found that treatment with KCL-286, a molecule that activates the retinoic acid receptor-β (RARβ), enhanced the repair of DNA damage in neurons.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center were able to eradicate measurable residual disease (MRD) in B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients, a critical step in improving long-term survival outcomes, by treating with the antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) inotuzumab ozogamicin.

Results from the Phase 2 study were published in Blood Cancer Journal. Among 37 patients treated, 70% achieved MRD negativity, including strong responses in both Philadelphia chromosome-positive and -negative disease.