The Broad’s DepMap project was the most serious effort in this area that I’m aware of. They focused on cancer cell lines but also included normal cells as controls. My understanding is that the pan-essential genes are typically required in both cancer and normal cells making them difficult to target. It’s possible that focusing on functional features rather than specific genes could get around this but is more difficult to operationalize. In some ways, chemotherapy already does this by targeting rapidly dividing cells. An alternative approach is to focus on pan-cancer immunotherapy which could leverage the specificity already present in the patients immune system. The use of endogenous IgG accumulation could be an interesting approach along these lines.
The Broad’s DepMap project was the most serious effort in this area that I’m aware of. They focused on cancer cell lines but also included normal cells as controls. My understanding is that the pan-essential genes are typically required in both cancer and normal cells making them difficult to target. It’s possible that focusing on functional features rather than specific genes could get around this but is more difficult to operationalize. In some ways, chemotherapy already does this by targeting rapidly dividing cells. An alternative approach is to focus on pan-cancer immunotherapy which could leverage the specificity already present in the patients immune system. The use of endogenous IgG accumulation could be an interesting approach along these lines.