The protein has long been considered “undruggable,” but this breakthrough offers a promising new strategy for targeting it — and could lead to better treatments for hard-to-treat cancers.

The findings mark the first successful demonstration that HuR can be dismantled from within cancer cells using small, orally bioavailable compounds, a feat that could redefine therapeutic strategies against not only breast cancer but a range of diseases where RNA-binding proteins play a role.

HuR helps tumors thrive by stabilizing the mRNA of oncogenes—genes that promote uncontrolled cell growth. “Blocking HuR wasn’t enough; we needed to eliminate it altogether,” said Dr. Raphael Benhamou of Hebrew University’s Faculty of Medicine. Traditional drug development had failed to target HuR due to its flexible structure and lack of a clear binding site, characteristics that earned it a place among the most challenging targets in oncology.