Cancer drug in human trials hits an unexpected target, study finds

Researchers at the University of Sydney found that the experimental cancer drug zavondemstat and related compound QC6352 work mainly by blocking the enzyme DHODH rather than the KDM4 proteins they were designed to inhibit. The findings, published in Nature Chemical Biology, may require reinterpreting earlier KDM4 studies.

• Zavondemstat is already being tested in patients
• Anticancer effect is driven by DHODH, not KDM4
• Other KDM4 inhibitors did not reproduce the same effect
• Team developed compounds that block KDM4 without touching DHODH