The difference between the origin of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and its symptoms is an obstacle to finding effective treatments. Scientists focused on amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and tau aggregates to slow neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. Without identifying what causes AD, approved treatments do not provide much benefit. However, new findings suggest that restoring lithium levels in the brain could prevent and treat AD. Not just any lithium would work, just the forms that do not bind to Aβ. Read More
Protumoral perivascular tumor-associated macrophages (PvTAMs) are a subset of TAMs that promote a chemotherapy-resistant tumor microenvironment (TME) through the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). Consequently, HO-1 represents a promising therapeutic target for reprogramming the TME and enhancing antitumor immune responses. Read More
Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive brain tumor characterized by cellular heterogeneity, therapy-resistant glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs), and diffuse infiltration. Researchers at City of Hope have reported on targeting GBM using the CF17 oncolytic virus, delivered either directly or via human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC)-derived neural progenitor cell (NPC) carriers. Read More
Starlight Therapeutics Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Lantern Pharma Inc., announced that the FDA has cleared STAR-001 (LP-184) in combination with spironolactone for patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) at first progression. Read More
A quarterly dynamic table featuring new molecular entities (NMEs) revealed for the first time in current literature, at congresses and in company communications during the quarter. NMEs include compounds chosen for further pharmacological evaluation or as clinical candidates; new leads whose structural optimization could provide new therapeutic agents; new additions to the structural diversity of known mechanistic classes of drugs; and new pharmacological tools for investigating drug targets. Read More
Neucore Bio Inc. announced it has been awarded a US$304,000 National Science Foundation Small Business Technology Transfer grant to evaluate scalable manufacturing of exosome-based gene delivery methods. Read More
DNA vaccines are a promising therapeutic approach for personalized cancer immunotherapy. However, the application of therapeutic DNA-based cancer vaccines is still limited by their variable clinical results, primarily due to suboptimal antigen selection, backbone plasmid design and the limited transfection efficacy of naked DNA administered by injection. Read More
Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Industry Development Co. Ltd. has identified drug-conjugates comprising a radionuclide-labeled molecular probe linked to ligand targeting fibroblast activation protein α (FAP) through a linker reported to be useful for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. Read More
Nitrogen-containing heteroaromatic-based inhibitors for cytochrome P450 (CYP) in various species contain a crucial coordination between the nitrogen atom and the heme iron. Previous studies suggested that 1,3-oxazole could bind heme-iron with a strength comparable to pyridine, highlighting its potential as a novel heme-iron binding moiety. Read More
Hefei Institutes of Physical Science Chinese Academy of Sciences has synthesized phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease. Read More
Rivo Bio Inc. has disclosed compounds acting as 5-HT2A receptor agonists reported to be useful for the treatment of depression, schizophrenia and anxiety disorders. Read More
Hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) are challenging to diagnose due to the tumor heterogeneity and unnoticeable early symptoms. Researchers from Anhui Medical University have developed a novel gallium 68 (68Ga)-labeled radiotracer, named [68Ga]DOTA-AngII, designed to improve the precision of HCC imaging. Read More
Additional early-stage research and drug discovery news in brief, from: Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals, IGC Pharma, Revolo Biotherapeutics, Vivani Medical. Read More
