A live-attenuated vaccine targeting SARS-CoV-2 infection, which can be administered through the nose, has shown promise in preclinical animal studies carried out by researchers in Berlin. In an article published April 3, 2023, in Nature Microbiology, the authors reported that the COVID-19 vaccine candidate – sCPD9 – triggered the most robust immune response in a hamster model when compared with Biontech/Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine BNT162b2 and Ad2-Spike. Read More
The editing in human cells and in mice of the survival motor neuron 1 gene (SMN1) restored the levels of SMN protein that the mutation of the SMN2 gene produces in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Scientists from the Broad Institute in Boston and The Ohio State University reversed the mutation using the base editing technique. “This base editing approach to treating SMA should be applicable to all SMA patients, regardless of the specific mutation that caused their SMN1 loss,” the lead author David Liu, a professor and director of the Merkin Institute of Transformative Technologies in Healthcare at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, told BioWorld. Read More
Immunoglobulin A (IgA) nephropathy is the most prevalent glomerulonephritis worldwide that does not have a specific treatment. Its pathogenesis is complex and not well understood, but there is increasing evidence that the lectin-driven complement activation may be behind it. Mannose-binding lectin serine protease 2 (MASP-2) has been studied as a therapeutic target in the treatment of IgA nephropathy, as it is one of the main lectin pathway activators. Read More
Shouyao Holdings (Beijing) Co. Ltd. has synthesized DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
Ubix Therapeutics Inc. has identified proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) comprising cereblon (CRBN) ligands coupled to a protein ENL (MLLT1; YEATS1) targeting moiety via linker. Read More
Although COVID-19 may be more severe in people with HIV (PWH), the underlying biological mechanisms among PWH treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART) remain largely unknown. Read More
Investigators from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have reported data on a series of 3 patients with perinatal-onset of neutrophilic cutaneous small vessel vasculitis and systemic inflammation, with 2 of them developing liver fibrosis in the first year of their lives. Read More
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Université Paul Sabatier - Toulouse III have divulged alkynylcarbinols acting as 17β -hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 11 (17β-HSD11; 17bHSD11; 17βHSD11)-activated compounds reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, bacterial, fungal and parasitic infections. Read More
Biotheryx Inc. has entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with Incyte Corp. to discover and develop targeted protein degraders for novel oncology targets. Read More
Montelino Therapeutics LLC has described proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) compounds comprising an E3 ubiquitin ligase binding moiety coupled to an androgen receptor variant 7 (AR-v7)-targeting moiety through a linker. They are reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer. Read More
