An injectible antibody for a target protein called CTLA4 has shown promise in melanoma.
When the antibodies on the surface of the nanotubes come in contact with a target protein, the proteins bind to the tubes and spread them apart a tiny bit.
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The treatment involves taking a patient's T-cells, the infection- and disease-fighting cells of the immune system, and genetically modifying them to target a protein called CD19, which is present on ALL cells.
Many scientists think that other effective cancer treatments might be created through the same idea: Target the defective protein that causes the disease.
Researchers hope to be able to target the same protein in men, however, more tests will be needed to show whether the drug is both safe and effective in people.
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It is in a race with several companies that are taking aim at a novel target, a protein-chewing enzyme called DPP-4 (dipeptidylpeptidase 4) which plays a role in disrupting the production of insulin.
For Myriad, this protein is a new drug target--that is, a chemical targeted to stop the protein might make an effective drug.
But the new antibodies target an area of one protein that does not change.
AstraZeneca is in midstage trials with 180 melanoma patients for a drug that hits a related target called mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase.
AstraZeneca (nyse: AZN - news - people ) is in midstage trials with 180 melanoma patients for a drug that hits a related target called mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase.
To catch up with rivals in creating drugs that hit a target called hsp90 (heat shock protein 90), Pfizer bought an outfit called Serenex.
In 91% of cases it matched a drug to a protein known to be its target.
One reason is that the flat geometry of the hepatitis C protease protein made it is difficult target to hit with small-chemical drugs.
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Depending on just how researchers tailor the virus that carries the light-sensitive protein, they now can target almost any type of neuron they want to study.
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The Novartis drug suppresses a protein called MTOR (mammalian target of rapamycin), which receives incoming growth signals from the surface of the cell and directs them to grow fatter, a necessary step before cell division.
Vertex, instead, takes a machine-gun approach, designing thousands of compounds to test them against hundreds of potentially disease-causing proteins--all at once, and before scientists even know which protein might be a good target or which compound might actually work.
Benlysta is delivered directly into a vein (intravenous infusion) and is the first inhibitor designed to target B-lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) protein, which may reduce the number of abnormal B cells thought to be a problem in lupus.
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The active ingredient in Rapamune, rapamycin, was discovered decades ago but scientists didn't understand how the drug worked until a graduate student named David Sabatini discovered the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a protein that acts as part of a complicated set of chemical signals that causes cells to divide.
Wong (now at Stanford University) figured the mutated gene might make an ideal target for a vaccine, as it creates an abnormal protein not seen in healthy cells.
All three drugs target the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a protein that is over-expressed in cancer cells.
All of the cholesterol drugs known as statins work by blocking the same drug target, a liver enzyme (enzymes are a kind of protein).
When a drug company feels reasonably confident that it has a gene target, the next stage is to use that gene to manufacture the corresponding protein en masse.
By stringing together thousands of these so-called droplets (which measure about 50 microns across) using a custom-built 3D printer, the Oxford team believes it has engineered a "new type of material" that could eventually be used to ferry drugs throughout our internal systems to a specific target site, fill-in for damaged tissues or even mimic neural pathways via specially printed protein pores.
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