Precision Biosciences Inc. uses its proprietary Arcus platform to develop in vivo gene editing therapies and has outlined new data from its wholly owned and partnered pipeline.
Researchers from Michigan State University and Tarn Biosciences Inc. have published their work on the discovery and preclinical evaluation of novel antimycobacterial nitro-containing compounds.
Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a ligand-dependent transcription factor that maintains skin homeostasis in healthy skin and is expressed in keratinocytes, fibroblasts, mastocytes and melanocytes. In inflammatory skin disorders such as psoriasis, AhR deficit leads to marked skin inflammation, abnormal barrier function and increased cytokine release. Researchers from Sichuan University have reported the discovery and optimization of a new series of 2-thioxoimidazolidin-4-one derivatives acting as AhR agonists that led to the identification of [I] as the lead compound, which showed an EC50 value of 0.015 µM against AhR.
It has been previously demonstrated that glypican-3 (GPC3) is differentially expressed in hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), making it a promising target for radiopharmaceutical therapy to treat HCC. At the ongoing meeting of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine in Vienna, researchers from Rayzebio Inc. and Peptidream Inc. presented the preclinical characterization of a novel proprietary peptide binder of GPC3, RAYZ-8009.
Osimertinib is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor with documented efficacy in non-small-cell lung cancer. However, in most cases, patients develop resistance to this treatment by mechanisms that are not clear in half of the cases. Researchers from Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital presented data on BC-3448, a bispecific antibody targeting EGFR and CD3 aimed to recruit T cells to tumors with high EGFR expression leading to T cell-driven tumor cell killing. The compound presents a stronger binding affinity for EGFR than for CD3 to avoid the development of cytokine release syndrome, which is a safety issue common in CD3-based bispecific antibodies.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has a new candidate for its treatment. Nasal anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (MAb) reduced microglia activation in the brain of mice without its effect being dependent on the β-amyloid (Aβ) deposits characteristic of this neurodegenerative disorder. “We have done many basic studies in the laboratory on microglia. Microglia activation occurs in many neurologic diseases. One of them is multiple sclerosis (MS). And it also occurs in AD,” senior author Howard Weiner told BioWorld.