The treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has made progress due to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), but still many patients present innate or acquired resistance to ICIs, thus there is a need for the discovery of new therapeutic approaches for HCC treatment. Epigenetic alterations play a key role in liver cancer, so that they can suppress the expression of proteins involved in triggering the immune response against tumors. Spanish researchers have now identified a promising target for liver HCC treatment, named histone-lysine N-methyltransferase EHMT2, also known as protein G9a.
Protein palmitoylation is a post-translational modification catalyzed by a series of enzymes called zinc finger DHHC (ZDHHC) palmitoyltransferases. Scientists from Guangzhou Medical University and affiliated organizations aimed to assess the function of protein palmitoylation in renal fibrosis, a common pathway leading to end-stage chronic kidney disease.
A recent study published in Acta Neuropathologica Communications sheds light on the gender disparity in the incidence of ACTH-secreting pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs), which occur more frequently in females than in males.
Investigating the relationship between IL-1 and inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), researchers unveiled mesenchyme homeobox 1 (MEOX1), an IL-1-dependent transcription factor that is known to regulate fibrosis in cardiac ischemia that is tied to IBD ulcers and positively expressed in ACKR1+ ECs.
Researchers from New York University and affiliated organizations have detailed data for C-2230, a Cav2.2 channel blocker being developed for the treatment of pain.
At the recent 2025 congress of the European Crohn’s and Colitis Organisation, researchers from Helixon Therapeutics presented the discovery and preclinical characterization of HXN-1002, a bispecific antibody simultaneously targeting both α4β7 and TL1A that is being investigated as a potential treatment for inflammatory bowel disease.
Mycobacterium abscessus, a notorious pathogen known for its resistance to most antibiotics, poses significant treatment challenges. To overcome this intrinsic resistance, a recent study published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy by researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China and collaborators identified a promising molecular target that may guide the development of new therapeutic strategies.
Researchers have altered the genetic code in a strain of Escherichia coli, reducing the number of stop codons from three to one and assigning the freed-up stop codons to nonstandard amino acids. They reported on the recoded bacterium, which they named OCHRE, in Nature on Feb. 5, 2025.
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