Targets

In Norway, organized cervical cancer screening was cytology-based until 2023, and women screened in 2013–2015 were largely unvaccinated. We conducted a retrospective, population-based cohort study to assess whether co-testing with a 3-type HPV mRNA assay improves detection of high-grade cervical lesions in women < 40 years. Among 11,395 women screened in Northern Norway and followed for 8–10 years, 2807 formed a co-testing cohort (ThinPrep cytology plus PreTect SEE; HPV16/18/45) and 8588 formed a cytology-only cohort. The endpoint was histologically confirmed CIN2+. Sensitivity for CIN2+ was 63.7% with cytology alone and 71.0% with co-testing (absolute +7.3 percentage points; p = 0.034). In the co-testing cohort, HPV mRNA was detected in 10.2% of women, of whom 46.0% developed CIN2+, while CIN2+ risk in HPV mRNA-negative women was 5.2%. Co-testing produced wide risk gradients: CIN2+ risk was 58.3% in double-positive women (HPV mRNA-positive and ASC-US+) and 3.3% in double-negative women (HPV mRNA-negative and normal cytology), with no cervical cancers observed in the latter group. In this cytology-based, largely unvaccinated setting, co-testing with a 3-type HPV mRNA assay improved detection performance and long-term risk stratification in women < 40 years, supporting its use as a quality-assurance and triage tool within organized screening programs.

Aberrant activation of fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) drives tumor progression in multiple cancer types, yet existing FGFR1 inhibitors suffer from suboptimal target selectivity and dose-limiting toxicities. This study describes an integrated computational approach for the identification of novel FGFR1 inhibitors. We established a computational pipeline incorporating ligand-based pharmacophore modeling, multi-tiered virtual screening with hierarchical docking (HTVS/SP/XP), and MM-GBSA binding energy calculations to evaluate interactions within the FGFR1 kinase domain. From an initial library of 9019 anticancer compounds, three hit compounds exhibited superior FGFR1 binding affinity compared to the reference ligand 4UT801. Scaffold hopping was performed to generate 5355 structural derivatives, among which candidate compounds 20357a–20357c showed improved bioavailability and reduced toxicity as predicted by absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxicity (ADMET) profiling. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations validated stable binding modes and favorable interaction energies for these candidates. Collectively, our study identifies structurally novel FGFR1 inhibitors with optimized pharmacodynamic and safety profiles, thereby advancing targeted anticancer drug discovery.

In recent decades, the novel role of Galectin-3 (Gal-3) in both physiological and pathological conditions has emerged. Gal-3 is a key protein involved in immunity, inflammation, cell adhesion, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Its physiological role is crucial for the regulation of these cellular functions. In pathological settings, elevated levels of Gal-3 are associated with diseases such as cancer, heart failure, and fibrotic diseases, making it an important diagnostic and prognostic biomarker in these conditions. It seems that Gal-3 acts as a bridge between different diseases. Because of its pro-inflammatory and pro-tumorigenic properties, it connects atherosclerosis and cancer, regulating inflammation, cell proliferation, immune evasion, angiogenesis and survival in both diseases. Specifically, in atherosclerosis, Gal-3 promotes plaque formation by driving inflammation, oxidative stress, lipid deposition, and vascular cell migration. In cancer, Gal-3 influences tumor growth and metastasis by modulating an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, increasing cell survival, and enhancing cell–matrix and cell–cell interactions. Moreover, by stimulating fibroblasts, Gal-3 favors matrix deposition and tissue fibrosis that together with the inflammatory properties contributes to adverse ventricular remodeling leading to heart failure. Finally, taking into account its role in pathogen recognition and immune cells (B and T cells) modulation, Gal-3 might be a critical factor in host defense, disease progression, and the development of autoimmune conditions. Thus, targeting Gal-3 might be a promising therapeutic strategy to pursue for management of different pathological scenarios.