DeCure's autonomous Rare AI scientist is researching a drug-repurposing hypothesis for benign essential blepharospasm — screening already-approved drugs against its 3-gene Open Targets disease module to publish open-access research. Research is fast; the path to publication is funded in milestone stages.
Disease moduleBenign essential blepharospasm maps to a 3-gene Open Targets module — the target space DeCure's AI scientist screens approved drugs against.
DeCure.ai methodSignature reversal (LINCS) plus network proximity (STRING) rank already-approved drugs likely to perturb this module — the same engine that produces DeCure.ai's repurposing hypotheses.
Repurposing thesisScreening approved medicines against this disease module, then publishing the evidence for the strongest candidate. Known pharmacology and human exposure data make the first question sharper — they do not establish safety or efficacy in a new indication.
Research record
01
ResearchComing soon
Candidate research + dossier — target rationale, drug-repurposing thesis and evidence pack.proof: Published dossier + on-chain hash
02
ValidationComing soon
In-vitro biological validation at a contract research org (CRO).proof: CRO contract + in-vitro report
03
Peer review & paperComing soon
Peer-reviewed paper published open-access (preprint + journal).proof: DOI + open-access link + on-chain hash
Current lead
No approved-drug candidate for benign essential blepharospasm is corroborated in the literature DeepSearch retrieved. Some conditions are managed with non-pharmacological care — a device, surgery or physical therapy — rather than a medicine; that may be the case here, or the literature we found may simply be too sparse yet to support a drug-repurposing angle.
Molecular view
cannabinoid receptor 1 (CNR1) — CNR1 is one of the genes genetically linked to this disease in Open Targets — shown as context, not as a drug target we're pursuing: no approved-drug candidate for this disease is yet corroborated in the literature we found.
Loading structure…
helix sheet 5z,8z,11z,13s,14zdrag to rotate · scroll to zoom
RCSB Protein Data Bank · entry 8GHV · 2.8 Å · ligand (5Z,8Z,11Z,13S,14Z)-N-[(2R)-1-hydroxypropan-2-yl]-13-methylicosa-5,8,11,14-tetraenamide (ZI5). Experimental structure, not a prediction.
Evidence
Retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works and resolved on OpenAlex — ranked by citations, including the results that did not work.
Korean Journal of Ophthalmology · 2017 · 16 citations · open access
Long-term Efficacy of Botulinum Neurotoxin-A Treatment for Essential Blepharospasm
AbstractPURPOSE: In the present study, we investigated the treatment efficacy and clinical outcomes of botulinum neurotoxin-A (BoNT-A) administered for longer than 5 years to patients with essential blepharospasm. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 19 patients (male : female = 8 : 11) diagnosed with essential blepharospasm between March 2006 and July 2016 who underwent BoNT-A injections for over 5 years and were followed. Efficacy of 297 injections of Botox (n = 162), Meditoxin (n = 75), Hugel-tox (n = 40), or Dysport (n = 20) was based on the symptom improvement score at the final injection (-1, worse; 0, same; 1, better). Injection dose (botox unit), duration of efficacy (months), and adverse events were also investigated. RESULTS: Based on product type, significant differences in patient age (59.3 ± 9.8 years), disease period (5.0 ± 5.4 years), number of botulinum neurotoxin injections before visiting our clinic (1.6 ± 2.6), and follow-up period (7.2 ± 1.6 years) were not observed. Treatment efficacy score and injection dose of repetitive injections were 0.1 ± 0.5 and 39.1 ± 4.0 units, respectively, and did not show significant differences with repeated injections. Duration of response was 5.9 ± 5.4 months, but this significantly decreased as the injections were repeated (p < 0.01). Among the 297 injections, adverse events occurred 12 times (4.0%) with no severe sequelae. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we showed that repetitive, long-term BoNT-A injections are considered a stable and effective treatment for essential blepharospasm in terms of consistent injection dose and maintenance of treatment efficacy. However, the duration of long-term efficacy could be decreased in patients injected repetitively.
Investigating the correlation between the blepharospasm disability index and botulinum neurotoxin dosage for benign essential blepharospasm and hemifacial spasm
AbstractPurpose The purpose of this study is to evaluate the association between the blepharospasm disability index (BSDI) and botulinum neurotoxin (BTX) dosage for patients affected by either benign essential blepharospasm or hemifacial spasm.Methods Cross-sectional cohort study evaluating adult patients diagnosed with benign essential blepharospasm or hemifacial spasm who completed a BSDI evaluation prior to receiving same-day therapeutic BTX injections. Primary outcome measures included BSDI score and number of BTX units. Simple and multivariable linear regression analyses were utilized to assess the relationship between BSDI score and BTX dosage.Results For patients with benign essential blepharospasm, BTX dosage was significantly and positively correlated to BSDI score (R2=0.16, β=1.15, p=0.007). This relationship remained robust when controlling for age, sex, disease duration, interval since previous BTX injection, and injecting provider (β=1.11, p=0.010). No significant correlation was identified between BSDI score and BTX dosage for patients affected by hemifacial spasm (R2=0.05, β=0.39, p=0.379).Conclusions This study demonstrates that BTX dosage is significantly and positively correlated to BSDI score for patients affected by benign essential blepharospasm, but not for those affected by hemifacial spasm. Incorporating BSDI score may support more individualized and efficient clinical management of benign essential blepharospasm.
Disease module: DeepOracle (Open Targets). Structures: RDKit from PubChem SMILES. Literature: retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works (targeted per-candidate search), resolved on OpenAlex.
DeCure is a research and publication project, not medical advice and not a treatment. "DeCure for X" describes a research goal, not a claim that a cure exists. Backing a cure is a contribution to fund the research — it is not an investment, and confers no yield, royalty, equity or IP ownership. Papers are published open-access by the DeCure.ai DAO.
