Recently, a research team led by Professor Jiang Hao, Professor Yang Jinlin, and Professor Yang Li from the Department of Gastroenterology, the Laboratory of Digestive System Tumors and Liver Diseases at West China Hospital, Sichuan University, in collaboration with Professor David J. Kerr from the University of Oxford and Professor Ke Bowen from the Institute of Anesthesiology at West China Hospital, published a research paper titled "Targeting TFAP2β condensation suppresses the development of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma" in Cell. 

Utilizing integrated multi-omics analysis, the study is the first to identify TFAP2β as a novel therapeutic target for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Moreover, the team developed A6, the world’s first small-molecule compound that targets the phase separation behavior and function of TFAP2β through a phase separation mechanism. This breakthrough addresses the clinical bottleneck of the lack of specific targeted drugs for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and holds significant scientific implications and promising clinical application prospects. This research also represents a landmark achievement resulting from the close collaboration between West China Hospital, Sichuan University and the University of Oxford since 2018.

Read the article: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(25)01315-7.