The lack of animal models that mimic human disease impedes the study of many pathologies that still lack treatment beyond symptom relief. This is what has happened so far with PURA syndrome, a rare disorder affecting brain development for which a mouse model has finally been developed. Other times, small and large models exist, but an effective treatment remains elusive, as is the case with Krabbe disease, a fatal disease in children that could be prevented with the advances in gene therapy.
Chengdu Easton Biopharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. has described menin (MEN1)/KMT2A (MLL) interaction inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer and diabetes.
Esperion Therapeutics Inc. has described ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) inhibitors reported to be useful for the treatment of cancer, nonalcoholic or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (NASH/MASH), type 2 diabetes, chronic kidney disease, autoimmune disease and inflammatory disorders.
Since the development of the base and prime editing technique by David Liu at the Broad Institute, their applications in biomedicine have continued to grow, reaching 17 clinical trials for base editing and one clinical assay for prime editing. The 28th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) marked a historic milestone this year by presenting the first case of treatment with base editors of a baby with a deadly metabolic disease.
Repair Biotechnologies Inc.’s REP-0003 has been awarded orphan drug designation by the FDA for the treatment of homozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HoFH).
Cancer cachexia is a devastating condition that affects up to 80% of advanced cancer patients and causes approximately 2 million deaths worldwide annually. Cancer cachexia is characterized by uncontrolled weight loss and severe muscle wasting. Despite its significant impact, effective treatments remain elusive.
The search continues for effective treatments against metabolic syndrome and its related complication, diabetes. Current treatments fail in many patients to provide long-term glycemic control or lead to weight loss.
At the recent American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) meeting, Wave Life Sciences Ltd. presented siRNAs designed to suppress expression of the liver gene inhibin subunit β E (INHBE). Human genetic data show that heterozygous INHBE loss-of-function carriers exhibit a healthy metabolic profile.
One of the main goals in the prevention of cardiovascular disorders is to maintain low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) at consistently low levels to ensure long-term cardiovascular protection. Investigators at Verve Therapeutics Inc. reported preclinical data on VERVE-102, a GalNAc base editing strategy designed to sustainably inactivate the PCSK9 gene and lower LDL-C in familial hypercholesterolemia.
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