The mutant gene causing Huntington’s disease (HD) is active from the earliest stages of brain development, even though the pathology is not evident until between 30 and 50 years of age. That delay is ascribed to plasticity enabling the brain to compensate to such an extent that overt signs of disease take time to develop. As a result, it is difficult to plot a route from early molecular defects to development of HD several decades later. Read More
Variants in a newly discovered microprotein affected the risk of Alzheimer’s disease more than any other known risk variant besides ApoE. The protein, dubbed SHMOOSE by its discoverers, was identified in a mitochondrial-wide association study (miWAS). The researchers reported their findings in the Sept. 21, 2022, issue of Molecular Psychiatry. The newly identified variant is not rare – it occurs in about a quarter of the Caucasian population, slightly more than the ApoE4 allele. Its effects are also not subtle – in their paper, the team estimated that those with the high-risk variant SHMOOSED47N were roughly 30% more likely to develop AD than those without. Read More
Understanding how alternative splicing is regulated and how it contributes to disease pathogenesis might open new therapeutic options for the treatment of diabetic nephropathy (DN). Bcl-2-like protein 1 (BCL2L1), also known as BCLX, for which two alternative splicing forms (Bcl-xL and Bcl-xS) have been seen to have antagonistic effects. Read More
Les Laboratoires Servier SAS has divulged new glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) receptor agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of obesity and diabetes. Read More
Levena Biopharma Co. Ltd. and Sorrento Therapeutics Inc. have synthesized antibody-drug conjugates consisting of auristatin analogues covalently linked to monoclonal antibody targeting B-cell maturation protein (BCMA) through a linker. Read More
Impairment in the functionality of the adipose tissue is crucial for obesity-related metabolic comorbidities and may trigger the onset of type 2 diabetes. The adipose tissue has been proposed as a main contributor of circulating miRNAs (miRNAs), but has not yet been characterized for these markers. Read More
Shanghai Qilu Pharmaceutical Research and Development Centre Ltd. has described new serine/threonine-protein kinase PLK4 (STK18) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
Guangzhou Henovcom Bioscience Co. Ltd. has identified new imidazole TGF-β receptor type-1 (TGFBR1; ALK5; SKR4; TβR-I) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, hepatic fibrosis, inflammation, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, diabetic nephropathy and renal disorders, among other disorders. Read More
Kancera AB has shown that its Fractalkine-blocking candidate drug may increase the efficacy of platinum-based chemotherapy and reduce tumor growth in animal models of ovarian cancer. Read More
Mindset Pharma Inc. has patented indole derivatives acting as 5-HT2A receptor agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of neurological disorders and psychosis, among other disorders. Read More
Additional early-stage research and drug discovery news in brief, from: Alzecure, Biomea, Corbus, Defence Therapeutics, EIP Pharma, Kancera, Logicbio Therapeutics, Medicenna, Phio. Read More
