DeCure's autonomous Cancer AI scientist is researching a drug-repurposing hypothesis for breast carcinoma — screening already-approved drugs against its 45-gene Open Targets disease module to publish open-access research. Research is fast; the path to publication is funded in milestone stages.
Disease moduleBreast carcinoma maps to a 45-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
approvedVincristineApproved drug
Structures already discussed alongside breast carcinoma in the retrieved literature, rendered from public PubChem SMILES. Which drugs appear here reflects the evidence found, not a ranked prediction.
Molecular view
bovine ABCC1 — Vincristine has a real, experimentally solved structure in complex with this target (PDB 9LGC, 2.95 Å). This is the drug's own deposited structure, not a prediction, and confirms it is a structurally characterised molecule rather than an untested guess.
Loading structure…
helix sheet r1qdrag to rotate · scroll to zoom
RCSB Protein Data Bank · entry 9LGC · 2.95 Å · ligand Vincristine (R1Q). Experimental structure, not a prediction.
What the evidence adds up to
A 1981 randomised trial compared two chemotherapy combinations in advanced breast carcinoma. Among 29 assessable patients receiving vincristine plus adriamycin, 17 responded (59 %). Among 26 patients receiving vindesine plus adriamycin, 16 responded (62 %). Severe neurotoxicity requiring dose reduction or treatment cessation occurred in 6 patients (21 %) on the vincristine arm and in 2 patients (8 %) on the vindesine arm. Marrow toxicity did not differ between the two schedules. The response rates were similar, but the vindesine combination caused less severe nerve damage.
A 1999 study of 13,166 women from the Utah Cancer Registry, followed for 30 years and stratified by clinical stage and age at diagnosis, estimated hazard functions for breast carcinoma. For all patient categories, the estimated hazard functions passed through a clear maximum and then decreased as follow-up approached 30 years. The hazards were nonproportional across strata. The authors concluded that cure is a possible outcome of breast carcinoma treatment, based on the shape of the hazard function.
A 2000 study used the Upper Midwest Oncology Registry Services to identify 937 women with breast carcinoma occurring as a second primary after a first primary at another site, and compared them with 1874 women with first primary breast carcinoma, matched by age. Women with second primary breast carcinoma tended to have smaller tumours and less extensive disease, and were more likely to have their breast carcinoma detected by mammogram or clinical breast exam rather than by self-detection. These differences in tumour size and extent were accounted for by method of detection. Second primary breast carcinoma was less likely to be lobular or mixed ductolobular carcinoma. Surgical treatment did not differ between the two groups. The more favourable prognostic characteristics among women with a history of cancer were explained by increased medical surveillance.
What is still missing is prospective trial data that stratifies patients by prior cancer history and method of detection, and a trial design that tests whether the nonproportional hazards observed in the 1999 study can be used to identify patients who are cured versus those who remain at risk. No money has been committed to such a trial.
Evidence
Retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works and resolved on OpenAlex — ranked by citations, including the results that did not work.
Cancer · 1999 · 39 citations
The shape of the hazard function in breast carcinoma
AbstractBACKGROUND: The question of curability of breast carcinoma remains controversial. Because the probability of cure essentially is an asymptotic notion, the corresponding estimation problems call for special statistical methods. Such methods should account for an intimate connection between the probability of cure and the shape of the hazard function. METHODS: The study was performed on survival data for 13,166 women with breast carcinoma identified through the Utah Cancer Registry and stratified by clinical stage and age at diagnosis. For these patients, the follow-up period was 30 years. Three estimation procedures were used for estimating the hazard function from the data: the life table estimator, a kernel counterpart of the Nelson-Aalen estimator, and a parametric estimator specifically designed for two-component hazards. The parametric estimate of the hazard function was used to provide estimates of cure rates for each category of patients. RESULTS: For all categories of patients under study, the estimated hazard functions passed through a clear-cut maximum, showing a tendency to decrease as time approached the end of a follow-up period. The hazards appeared to be nonproportional across the strata. The estimated values of the cure rate and the corresponding confidence intervals were determined for each stratum of patients with breast carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the current study strongly suggest that cure is a possible outcome of breast carcinoma treatment. The condition of proportionality of risks is not met in breast carcinoma survival data.
AbstractBACKGROUND: As the number of cancer survivors increases, so will the number of second primary cancers, including breast carcinoma after cancer at another site. Limited information is available regarding the clinical characteristics of breast carcinoma after a primary at another site. METHODS: TUMORS (The Upper Midwest Oncology Registry Services) was used to identify 937 women with breast carcinoma occurring as a second primary after a first primary at a known site other than the breast. They were compared with a sample of 1874 women with first primary breast carcinoma, frequency-matched by age to the second primary group, for method of detection, tumor characteristics, and type of surgery. RESULTS: Women with breast carcinoma after cancer at another site tended to have smaller tumors and less extensive disease than women with first primary breast carcinoma and were somewhat more likely than first primary cases to have had their breast carcinoma detected by mammogram or clinical breast exam rather than detecting it themselves. Differences in method of detection accounted for differences in tumor size and extent. Second primary breast carcinoma was less likely to be lobular or mixed ductolobular carcinoma compared with first primary breast carcinoma. Surgical treatment (mastectomy vs. breast-conserving surgery) did not differ for first and second primary breast carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical characteristics of breast carcinoma after cancer at another site were by and large similar to those of first primary breast carcinoma. The more favorable prognostic characteristics among women with a history of cancer were accounted for by increased medical surveillance.
Beiträge zur Onkologie/Contributions to oncology · 1981 · 1 citations
A Control Randomised Trial Comparing Vindesine and Adriamycin with Vincristine and Adriamycin in the Treatment of Advanced Breast Carcinoma
AbstractSummaryIn a control randomised trial 17 out of 29 assessable patients with advanced breast carcinoma responded to a combination of vincristine and adriamycin (59 %) compared with 16 out of 26 patients treated with vindesine and adriamycin (62 %). Six patients (21 %) treated with vincristine experienced neurotoxicity severe enough to reduce dosage or stop treatment compared with only 2 (8 %) treated with vindesine. No difference was seen in marrow toxicity between the 2 schedules.
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.
