Distillery spotlight: new ubiquitin-modulating mechanisms from academia

Academic researchers are breaking ground with new targets that add or remove ubiquitin, and extending the applications to new therapeutic indications, including in immuno-oncology. 

E3 ubiquitin ligases generally tag proteins for destruction by the proteasome, and have been a major focus for companies developing targeted protein degrader therapies over the last decade. Companies in the booming molecular glue and proteolysis targeting chimera (PROTAC) degrader fields have largely used one of two E3 ligases, cereblon and vHL, as endogenous tools to degrade targets of interest...