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  • NEWS FEATURE

Cancer drugs are closing in on some of the deadliest mutations

The protein KRAS, mutated in many cancers, was deemed ‘undruggable’. Now scientists are hoping to save lives with a batch of new compounds that target it.
  1. Heidi Ledford
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3D rendering of the KRAS protein

Chemists have struggled to design drugs that interact with the KRAS protein’s relatively smooth surface. Credit: Alamy

When Terri Conneran, a mother-of-three and a former corporate accountant in Charlotte, North Carolina, was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2017, she sought support from people going through the same thing. A handful of groups had been springing up on social media based on the specific mutations found in people’s tumours.

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Nature 610, 620-622 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03392-2

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