Dive Brief:
- The canSAR database at London's Institute for Cancer Research now includes 3-D structures for 110,000 human molecules - potentially improving ways to treat cancer.
- The database is used by more than 140,000 researchers worldwide to research effects of millions of drugs on human proteins.
- The additional 3-D structural information provides researchers with information on 3 million cavities on the surfaces of cancer-causing molecules, a crucial step in designing new drugs to block them, according to a study in Nucleic Acids Research.
Dive Insight:
Dr. Bissan Al-Lazikani, computational biology team leader at the Institute of Cancer Research and one of the developers of canSAR, said in a press release, "Scientists need to find all the information there is about a faulty gene or protein to understand whether a new drug might work. These data are vast and scattered, but the canSAR database brings them together and adds value by identifying hidden links and presenting the key information easily."
Dr. Kat Arney, science information manager at Cancer Research UK, said, "Finding new treatments for cancer can be a long and expensive process, so anything that cuts times and costs will help bring the next generation of therapies to patients even sooner."
The global cancer therapeutics market is estimated to reach $38.2 billion by 2019, according to an industry report by Mordor Intelligence.