METTL1: a novel target for drug inhibition that could treat numerous aggressive cancers

A recent collaboration between the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University of Cambridge (both Cambridgeshire, UK) and Harvard University (Boston, MA, USA) has identified a viable new drug target that plays a key role in the tumorigenesis of numerous aggressive cancers: the RNA-modifying METTL1 protein. Their research, published recently in Molecular Cell, provides strong evidence that developing drugs that block the METTL1 protein could give people with aggressive brain, blood, skin and kidney cancers new treatment options. The study follows the team’s development of a small-molecule inhibitor for a similar protein, METTL3, which is due to enter clinical trials for the treatment...