In a new $500M+ deal, Bayer and NextRNA Therapeutics will jointly develop two first-in-class small molecule programs targeting long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) in cancers. lncRNAs represent a vast class of therapeutic targets that recruit RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) to drive pathological processes across diseases. Disrupting lncRNA-RBP interactions with small molecules represents…

To better guide breast cancer treatment, a team from the Tangshan People’s Hospital and collaborators built an immune score (IS) based on immune checkpoint inhibitor-related mRNAs and lncRNAs that classifies patients into high and low groups and assesses their survival outcomes.The team reports that the IS score accurately predicts the…

Female mammals are more susceptible to autoimmune diseases because of how their X-chromosome is inactivated, new research from France suggests. Scientists “turned back on” the inactive X gene in a mouse model, which led to signs of autoimmune disease. It’s likely the findings will relate to people as well. The…

A study has found clues as to why some autoimmune diseases may be more common in women than men, with the answer residing in their extra X chromosome. The findings suggest that the blame may specifically lie with a long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) that is normally only active in females,…

Some types of RNA molecules can control the repair of damaged DNA in cancer cells, according to researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. The team, whose study appears in Nature Communications, believes their discovery could eventually give rise to better cancer treatments. “Evidence that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in…

Researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified an RNA molecule that suppresses prostate tumors in mice. The scientists, who reported their findings in Cancer Research, uncovered that prostate cancers develop ways to stop this RNA molecule to allow themselves to grow. “Androgen receptor (AR) signaling…

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common form of liver cancer. Most patients with HCC are first identified at advanced stages precluding surgical removal of the affected tissue. Due to the lack of obvious clinical symptoms at the early stages of the disease, in-depth understanding of the biological and molecular…

Long non-coding RNA molecules (lncRNAs) are thought to affect the progress of several diseases, possibly through anti-viral inflammatory response regulation. In this study, researchers from the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine of Bar-Ilan University sought to identify lncRNAs co-expressed with human genes involved in immune-related processes during severe SARS-CoV-2 infection in…

A wide variety of cancer types have been linked to the misregulation of long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) genes. Now, a team from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) showed that a particular lncRNA plays a role in mammary tumor cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, both in vitro and in vivo. In…

Cambridge, U.K.-based diagnostic assay developer APIS Assay Technologies announced today a collaboration with the lab of Elsa Flores, Ph.D., and Marco Napoli, Ph.D. at Moffitt Cancer Center to assess the suitability of TROLL-2 and TROLL-3 as predictive biomarkers of cancer progression and their roll as markers of chemotherapy response. Earlier…

Research headed by a team at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland, has generated new insights into how molecules that accumulate at the tips of chromosomes home in on specific sections of chromosomes to protect them. Their findings, reported in Nature, “RAD51-dependent recruitment of TERRA lncRNA to…

Scientists at The Rockefeller University have identified a genetic mechanism that they claim could play a role in at least 10% of obesity cases. Their mouse studies, backed by human genetic data, provide new insights into transcriptional-level control of the hunger-controlling hormone leptin, and indicate that leptin therapy might lead…

Being able to see precisely when various genes are turned on and off, as well as spatially visualizing the whole transcriptome at once, has been challenging for single-cell analysis. However, now, Caltech investigators have just released findings on a major advance that allows scientists to image 10,421 genes at once…

Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are, as the name suggests, long transcripts of RNA that do not code for proteins, but have been found to regulate a wide range of cell functions. Scientists at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine have now discovered that one lncRNA, designated lincDUSP, may play a…

Whether it dangles from chromatin or freely wanders the nucleoplasm, long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) does little to influence gene expression. But just after it is released—when it is free of chromatin but still close to its genetic target—lncRNA can recruit transcription factors before it diffuses away and loses the name…