DeCure's autonomous Rare AI scientist is researching a drug-repurposing hypothesis for berylliosis — screening already-approved drugs against its 1-gene Open Targets disease module to publish open-access research. Research is fast; the path to publication is funded in milestone stages.
Disease moduleBerylliosis maps to a 1-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 berylliosis 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
nuclear receptor subfamily 3 group C member 1 (NR3C1) — NR3C1 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 adpdrag to rotate · scroll to zoom
RCSB Protein Data Bank · entry 7KW7 · 3.57 Å · ligand ADENOSINE-5'-DIPHOSPHATE (ADP). Experimental structure, not a prediction.
What the evidence adds up to
Berylliosis is an occupational lung disease caused by dust or vapours of metallic beryllium, used in space, aviation, nuclear engineering, rocketry, and instrument making. The incidence among workers who have contact with beryllium and its compounds is 0.3% to 7.5%. People with different contact periods became sick, from several days to ten or more years, but no direct relationship was found between the concentration of the toxic substance in the body and the severity of intoxication. The pathogenesis is not definitively realised. Scientific studies have established toxic, pro-inflammatory, allergic, and carcinogenic effects.
The disease has acute and chronic forms. Acute forms are relatively rare and usually occur in emergencies in smelting or casting shops. Outcomes of acute beryllium poisoning vary from complete recovery with normalisation of X-ray findings to the development of interstitial pneumosclerosis, transition to a chronic form, or death. The mortality rate in beryllium pneumonia reaches 20%. Death occurs at two to three weeks of the disease; in extremely severe cases, patients die on the first day due to respiratory centre paralysis. Chronic berylliosis is either the outcome of acute intoxication or a primary chronic form that occurs in interstitial or granulomatous forms.
Berylliosis has no specific treatment. Therapy is exclusively pathogenetic and symptomatic. The scope of treatment depends on the form, disease severity and stage, and depth of the respiratory system lesion. Diagnosis is based on professional history, information about possible beryllium contact, a characteristic clinical and radiological picture, and positive beryllium tests. A lung biopsy is performed in severe cases. Prevention includes improving the production process and using air-purifying respirators and special protective clothing, plus medical examinations every two years.
What is still missing is any specific drug therapy, any controlled trial of a repurposed agent, and any validated biomarker that would allow patient stratification by disease stage or activity. The literature reviewed here, spanning 1951 to 2021, describes the natural history and industrial hygiene measures but offers no pharmacological intervention that has been tested against the disease.
Evidence
Retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works and resolved on OpenAlex — ranked by citations, including the results that did not work.
Physics Today · 1951 · 1 citations
Beryllium Poisoning
AbstractCharacteristics of the disease berylliosis, one of the more unpleasant problems facing industrial and laboratory health experts, were reviewed at length on April 24th in a paper by J. H. Sterner, medical director of the Eastman Kodak Company, and Merril Eisenbud, director of the AEC's New York Operations' health and safety division, during a joint meeting of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists at Atlantic City.
AbstractBerylliosis Get access TOXICITY O BERYLLIUM COMPOUNDS by Lloyd B. Tepper Harriet L. Hardy and Richard I. Chamberlin , London, Elsevier Publishing Company, 1961. T.G. Faulkner Hudson T.G. Faulkner Hudson Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Occupational Medicine, Volume 12, Issue 1, April 1962, Page 29, https://doi.org/10.1093/occmed/12.1.29-a Published: 01 April 1962
Bulletin of the Russian Military Medical Academy · 2021 · 0 citations · open access
Berylliosis
AbstractOne of the variants of pneumoconiosis is berylliosis, which is caused by dust or vapors of metallic beryllium that is widely used in space, aviation and nuclear engineering, rocketry, instrument making, etc. Therefore, beryllium intoxication is possible in employees of the above-mentioned industries who have contact with metallic beryllium or its compounds, as well as in workers of the mining industry who extract beryllium from ore. The incidence of berylliosis among workers who have contact with beryllium and its compounds is 0.3%7.5%. People with different contact periods became sick from several days to 10 or more years. However, no direct relationship was found between the concentration of a toxic substance in the body and the severity of intoxication. The pathogenesis of the toxic effects of beryllium and its compounds is not definitively realized. Numerous scientific studies have established their toxic, pro-inflammatory, allergic, and carcinogenic effects. Berylliosis has acute and chronic forms. Acute forms are relatively rare and usually occur in emergencies in smelting or casting shops of industrial enterprises and mild, moderate, or severe forms. Outcomes of acute beryllium poisoning vary from complete recovery with complete normalization of the X-ray findings to the development of interstitial pneumosclerosis with interstitial lung tissue compaction, transition to a chronic form, or death. The mortality rate in beryllium pneumonia reaches 20%. Death occurs at 23 weeks of the disease, and in extremely severe cases, patients die on the first day due to respiratory center paralysis. Chronic berylliosis is either the outcome of acute intoxication with beryllium and its compounds or as a primary chronic form that occurs in interstitial or granulomatous forms. The prognosis depends on prompt disease detection and treatment initiation. Berylliosis diagnosis is based on the data of a professional history assessment, information about possible beryllium contact, and a characteristic clinical and radiological picture and positive beryllium tests. A lung biopsy is performed for diagnosis in severe cases. Berylliosis has no specific treatment, thus the therapy is exclusively pathogenetic and symptomatic. The scope and treatment measures depend on the form, disease severity and stage, and depth of the respiratory system lesion. Berylliosis prevention includes the improvement of the production process and use of air-purifying respirators and special protective clothing to limit contact with beryllium and its compounds that are contained in the surrounding air, which refers to preliminary and periodic medical examinations that are performed once every 2 years. The examination of the patients ability to work should be decided with the stages of berylliosis and pathological process activities.
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.
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