Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) accounts for high number of new diagnoses each year. Current management is based on surgery followed by radiotherapy or chemotherapy, where treatment-induced fibrosis is a common complication associated with therapy. Since fibrosis is mostly driven by dysregulation of the Rho-ROCK signaling axis, researchers from Australia have investigated the potential of modulating ROCK2 with the small-molecule inhibitor RX-10616 for its potential antifibrotic effect combined with radiotherapy in patient-derived murine models of HNSCC.

Beactica Therapeutics AB, together with researchers at KU Leuven, has been awarded a €2.5 million (US$3.0 million) grant by the European Innovation Council (EIC) to advance BEA-17, a precision immune therapy for glioblastoma.

Researchers from Fudan University reported the development of CZL-077, a p300/CBP bromodomain inhibitor. p300 and CREB-binding protein (CBP) are closely related histone acetyltransferases that play central roles in regulating gene expression. Dysregulation of these proteins has been implicated in tumorigenesis and the development of therapy resistance.

SLAMF6 is an immune cell receptor whose function was not clear. Does it activate or inhibit cells? The results so far have been contradictory. Now, scientists at the Institut de Recherches Cliniques de Montréal (IRCM) have unveiled evidence that SLAMF6, a protein of the SLAM family that binds to copies of itself, is regulated by interactions between molecules of the same receptor within the same cell.

After closing an oversubscribed $85 million series B round, Quantx Biosciences Inc. is gearing up to begin clinical trials of its two lead immunology compounds, a STAT6 oral small-molecule inhibitor and an IL-17 oral small-molecule inhibitor.