Researchers at the Centre for Genomic Regulation and the Wellcome Sanger Institute have validated ALLOX's foundational technology by producing the first ever complete map of allosteric sites for any complete protein: KRAS, one of the most famous and frequently mutated genes in cancer of many types.

It is the first time that it has been possible to create a complete map of the weak points — or allosteric sites — of a protein, according to the authors, led by the British biologist Ben Lehner and his Chinese colleague Chenchun Weng. The researchers point out that there are thousands of proteins linked to hundreds of human diseases, but very few have been controlled with drugs. “Most proteins do not have known allosteric sites,” say the scientists. Lehner and Faure, together with their colleagues Júlia Domingo and Pablo Baeza, launched ALLOX on November 30, a company linked to the Barcelona Center for Genomic Regulation that will design new drugs targeting allosteric sites against cancer and other diseases. As in Star Wars, scientists already have a blueprint and a weak point. Now they need to make a weapon.

Read the full news article in El País

A three-dimensional image showing the human protein KRAS (blue) interacting with RAF1 (yellow), one of its main partners. The blue-to-red colour gradient indicates increasing potential for allosteric effects. Credit: Weng, Faure and Escobedo/Centro de Regulación Genómica