DeCure's autonomous Neuro AI scientist is researching a drug-repurposing hypothesis for Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 4 — screening already-approved drugs against its 15-gene Open Targets disease module to publish open-access research. Research is fast; the path to publication is funded in milestone stages.
Disease moduleCharcot-Marie-Tooth disease type 4 maps to a 15-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 charcot-marie-tooth disease type 4 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
myotubularin related protein 2 (MTMR2) — MTMR2 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 butanoyloxydrag to rotate · scroll to zoom
RCSB Protein Data Bank · entry 1ZSQ · 1.82 Å · ligand 2-(BUTANOYLOXY)-1-{[(HYDROXY{[2,3,4,6-TETRAHYDROXY-5-(PHOSPHONOOXY)CYCLOHEXYL]OXY}PHOSPHORYL)OXY]METHYL}ETHYL
BUTANOATE (PIB). Experimental structure, not a prediction.
What the evidence adds up to
In a retrospective diagnostic study of 64 patients (33 male, 31 female) with suspected Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, multiplex ligation probe amplification gave a molecular diagnosis in 25 patients (39%). Among 50 patients who then underwent next-generation sequencing for targeted CMT gene panels, 18 (36%) carried pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants. Whole-exome sequencing was performed on five patients with normal panel results, achieving an 80% diagnostic yield, with higher yield in the childhood group. The authors note that patients without a molecular diagnosis persist across the literature, suggesting undiscovered genes or mechanisms remain.
A separate case report describes a Russian family with a novel MPZ gene mutation causing early-onset but slow-progressive CMT. No treatment or intervention was tested in that report.
The CMT Pediatric Scale (CMTPedS) was developed as a multidimensional measure of disease severity for children aged 3–17 years. It covers eight domains: symptoms, foot/ankle involvement, lower limb sensation, hand dexterity/strength, balance, and motor function. Inter-rater reliability across four international centres testing eight children was good to excellent (ICC 0.78–0.99). A multicentre natural history study had recruited 90 children at the time of publication. The scale was intended as a primary outcome for future trials of podiatric, pharmacological, and surgical interventions.
What remains missing is any completed trial of a drug or other intervention for CMT type 4 specifically. The diagnostic studies show that many patients still lack a molecular diagnosis, which complicates patient stratification for trials. No validated outcome measure has yet been used in a randomised controlled trial for this subtype, and funding for such trials is not described in these abstracts.
Evidence
Retrieved by DeepSearch across 234,678,978 indexed works and resolved on OpenAlex — ranked by citations, including the results that did not work.
Revista da Associação Médica Brasileira · 2023 · 6 citations · open access
High diagnostic yield with algorithmic molecular approach on hereditary neuropathies
AbstractOBJECTIVE: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease covers a group of inherited peripheral neuropathies. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of targeted next-generation sequencing panels on the molecular diagnosis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease and its subtypes in routine clinical practice, and also to show the limitations and importance of next-generation sequencing in the diagnosis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth diseases. METHODS: This is a retrospective study. Three different molecular methods (multiplex ligation probe amplification, next-generation sequencing, and whole-exome sequencing) were used to detect the mutations related to Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. RESULTS: In total, 64 patients (33 males and 31 females) with suspected Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease were analyzed for molecular etiology. In all, 25 (39%) patients were diagnosed by multiplex ligation probe amplification. With an extra 11 patients with normal PMP22 multiplex ligation probe amplification results that were consulted to our laboratory for further genetic analysis, a total of 50 patients underwent next-generation sequencing for targeted gene panels associated with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. Notably, 18 (36%) patients had pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants. Whole-exome sequencing was performed on five patients with normal next-generation sequencing results; the diagnostic yield by whole-exome sequencing was 80% and it was higher in the childhood group. CONCLUSION: The molecular etiology in Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease patients can be determined according to pre-test evaluation, deciding the inheritance type with pedigree analysis, the clinical phenotype, and an algorithm for the genetic analysis. The presence of patients without a molecular diagnosis in all the literature suggests that there are new genes or mechanisms waiting to be discovered in the etiology of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.
Journal of Foot and Ankle Research · 2011 · 1 citations · open access
Development, reliability and validity of the Charcot‐Marie‐Tooth disease Pediatric Scale (CMTPedS)
AbstractCharcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) causes peripheral nerve demyelination, progressive foot weakness, cavus deformity, difficulty walking and sensory loss. There is a need for accurate, sensitive and disease-relevant measures of young children through to adolescents with CMT to enable accurate assessment of baseline performance, monitor disease severity longitudinally, and determine responses to existing and novel foot and ankle interventions. Our objective was to develop a multidimensional scale to measure disease severity of children with CMT, known as the CMT Pediatric Scale (CMTPedS). The CMTPedS has undergone a thorough development process: (1) definition of the construct; (2) generation of the item pool; (3) choice of scoring format; (4) peer-review (face validity); (5) pilot testing; (6) standardised training; (7) inter-rater reliability of four international centres assessing eight children with CMT; (8) multicenter implementation. Findings of the development process: (1) the CMTPedS is a composite scale with broad application to measure disease severity of childhood CMT with eight domains capturing symptoms, foot/ankle involvement, lower limb sensation, hand dexterity/strength, balance, motor function; (2) a large pool of items generated from the literature were reduced based on disease-specificity, functional/patient-relevance, reliability/validity, published norms, test duration and ease of interpretation; (3) items collapsed to 5-point Likert scales using z-scores based on age/gender norms; (4) quality, appropriateness and suitability of items peer-reviewed by 23 expert clinicians/researchers/patient representatives at the 168th European Neuromuscular Centre International Workshop; (5) pilot-tested on four children with CMT to check for administration problems, item instructions, order and duration; (6) clinicians from USA, UK, Italy and Australia trained through workshops, online manual and video resources; (7) all items exhibited good to excellent inter-rater reliability (ICC2,40.78-0.99) (8) a multicenter natural history study of children with all types of CMT aged 3-17 years is underway, with 90 children recruited to date. Application and psychometric validation of the CMTPedS continues. We plan to apply the final CMTPedS as the primary outcome in clinical trials of podiatric, pharmacological and surgical interventions.
INDIGO (University of Illinois at Chicago) · 2022 · 0 citations · open access
sj-pdf-2-imr-10.1177_03000605221139718 - Supplemental material for Novel mutation in the <i>MPZ</i> gene causes early-onset but slow-progressive Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease in a Russian family: a case report
AbstractSupplemental material, sj-pdf-2-imr-10.1177_03000605221139718 for Novel mutation in the <i>MPZ</i> gene causes early-onset but slow-progressive Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease in a Russian family: a case report by Anastasiya Aleksandrovna Kozina, Natalia Vladimirovna Baryshnikova, Anna Yurievna Ilinskaya, Anna Alexandrovna Kim, Nikolay Alekseevich Plotnikov, Nadezhda Andreevna Pogodina, Ekaterina Ivanovna Surkova, Peter Alekseevich Shatalov and Valery Vladimirovich Ilinsky in Journal of International Medical Research
Sage Journals Data · 2022 · 0 citations · open access
sj-pdf-2-imr-10.1177_03000605221139718 - Supplemental material for Novel mutation in the <i>MPZ</i> gene causes early-onset but slow-progressive Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease in a Russian family: a case report
AbstractSupplemental material, sj-pdf-2-imr-10.1177_03000605221139718 for Novel mutation in the <i>MPZ</i> gene causes early-onset but slow-progressive Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease in a Russian family: a case report by Anastasiya Aleksandrovna Kozina, Natalia Vladimirovna Baryshnikova, Anna Yurievna Ilinskaya, Anna Alexandrovna Kim, Nikolay Alekseevich Plotnikov, Nadezhda Andreevna Pogodina, Ekaterina Ivanovna Surkova, Peter Alekseevich Shatalov and Valery Vladimirovich Ilinsky in Journal of International Medical Research
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.
