DeCure's autonomous Cancer AI scientist is researching a drug-repurposing hypothesis for nasopharyngeal 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 moduleNasopharyngeal 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
No approved-drug candidate for nasopharyngeal carcinoma 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
tubulin alpha 1b (TUBA1B) — TUBA1B 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 gtpdrag to rotate · scroll to zoom
RCSB Protein Data Bank · entry 6S8L · 1.801 Å · ligand GUANOSINE-5'-TRIPHOSPHATE (GTP). 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.
JAMA Oncology · 2020 · 31 citations
Treatment Deescalation Strategies for Nasopharyngeal Cancer
AbstractIMPORTANCE: Since the advent of modern radiotherapy techniques and incorporation of systemic chemotherapy for nasopharyngeal cancer, locoregional control has been excellent. However, the rate of treatment-related complications, many of which are irreversible, remains high. New approaches are being explored to determine whether the toxic effects of treatment can be relieved while maintaining disease control. This review presents the current state of deescalation strategies for nasopharyngeal cancer. OBSERVATIONS: A review of the literature shows that deescalation approaches can be generally categorized into deescalating systemic therapy vs deescalating radiotherapy. This review discusses studies that have explored sparing chemotherapy in selected patients with stage II cancer as well as altering the chemotherapy scheduling, dosing, and agent from the current standard of care, cisplatin. Deescalating radiotherapy has involved decreasing the dose and the treatment volume. In many cases, these approaches are being guided by measuring Epstein-Barr virus DNA levels, which is a robust biomarker for screening, treatment monitoring, and surveillance. Ongoing work with various imaging modalities, such as fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and dynamic contrast-enhanced or diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging sequences, have shown promise as another biomarker to safely guide practitioners toward deescalation. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Various strategies to deescalate treatment in nasopharyngeal cancer have been explored, and outcomes have remained excellent in most approaches. Patient selection remains key, and long-term outcomes and late complications are still to be determined. Continued investigation with prospective, multi-institutional studies are needed to better elucidate how treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma can best be individualized and deescalated.
A Prospective Study of Surgery Combined with Concurrent Radiochemotherapy in The Treatment of Patients with Early Stage Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma
AbstractOBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical value that surgical treatment with comprehensive treatment in treating early stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. METHOD: Based on the case selection criteria, patients with early nasopharyngeal carcinoma were divided into surgery group and the conventional group according to patients' wishes. Surgery group were treated with surgery plus Radiochemotherapy as a comprehensive treatment while conventional group were treated with Radiochemotherapy. Outcome indices: (1) 5-year survival rate and 5-year disease-free survival rate; (2) Radiation dose to the nasopharynx; (3) Incidence of xerostomia. RESULT: (1) The overall 5-year follow-up rate was 97.12%; 1 patient was lost to follow-up in surgical group, the 5-year follow-up rate was 96.77%; 2 patients were lost in conventional Group with 5-year rate of 97.26%. (2) The 5-year survival rate of 104 patients was 83.65% (87/104). (3) The 5-year survival rate and 5-year tumor-free survival rate were 96.77% (30/31) and 93.55% (29/31) in surgical group, 78.08% (57/73) and 73.97% (54/73) in conventional group. There were significant differences between the two groups (P < 0.05). (4) The radiation dose to the nasopharynx in surgery group and conventional group were (63.90 +/- 5.56) Gy and (71.48 +/- 4.18)Gy, respectively; the dose in surgical group was significantly less than the conventional group, there were statistical significance between the two groups. (5) The incidence of xerostomia was significantly less in surgical group (22.58%) than conventional group (65.75%), the difference was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: The surgery combined with concurrent chemoradiotherapy is a effective comprehensive therapeutic interchange program for early stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma. These program can increase the long-term survival rate, but also reduce the radiation dose to the nasopharynx and the occurrence of radiation complications. A further aspect is worth consideration.
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.