The melanocortin MC4 receptor (MC4R), expressed in all brain regions, plays a relevant role in metabolism regulation and in the control of hunger and satiety. MC4R-specific agonist ligands such as setmelanotide have shown potential as antiobesity therapeutics, although reported off-target effects highlight the need for more specific compounds.
Researchers at University of Oxford have been awarded funding by Cancer Research UK to develop a vaccine to prevent ovarian cancer. The team will receive up to £600,000 (US$784,000) for the study over the next 3 years to support lab research on Ovarianvax.
Research into the regulation of gene expression experienced a significant breakthrough with the discovery of microRNA, small RNA molecules that do not code for proteins but control their translation. This finding has earned its discoverers – Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun – the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for the discovery of microRNA and its role in post-transcriptional gene regulation.”
Dark genome miner Enara Bio Ltd. has closed a $32.5 million series B that will see the lead program targeting the first of a novel class of cancer antigens it has discovered through to the clinic. Enara calls these cancer antigens “dark antigens” (the name is trademarked). It says they can be found in solid tumors irrespective of the immune phenotype, and are often expressed at high prevalence across multiple different tumors.
RTI International has divulged vancomycin derivatives with siderophore modification reported to be useful for the treatment of gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial infections.
Nutshell Biotech (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. has identified nitrogen-containing macrocyclic compounds acting as DNA polymerase θ (POLθ) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer.
Scientists at CeMM-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Medizin GmbH and Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science EV have synthesized proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds comprising a DDB1- and CUL4-associated factor 11 (DCAF11) binding moiety covalently linked to a different protein targeting moiety through a linker.
It has been previously demonstrated that intranasal treatment with COG-201, an AAV9-shRNA designed to target the down-regulation of the 5-HT2A receptor, significantly decreased anxiety and improved memory in mice and rats.
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