biostudies-literatureLian XNational Natural Science Foundation of ChinaClimbing Project for Medical Talent of Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan UniversityNoncommunicable Chronic Diseases-National Science and Technologybbaf266https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC12145228biostudies-literatureUnknown26(3)Depicting a global landscape of essential gene-targeting drugs would provide more opportunities for cancer therapy. However, a systematic investigation on drugs targeting essential genes still has not been reported. We suppose that drugs targeting cancer-type-specific essential genes would generally have less toxicity than those targeting pan-cancer essential genes. A scoring function-based strategy was developed to identify cancer-type-specific targets and drugs. The EssentialitySpecificityScore ranked the essential genes in 19 cancer types, and 1151 top genes were identified as cancer-type-specific targets. Combining target-drug interaction databases with research/marketing status, 370 cancer-type-specific drugs were identified, bound to 100 out of all identified targets. Profiles of appBriefings in bioinformaticsSystematic identification of cancer-type-specific drugs based on essential genes and validations in lung adenocarcinoma.PMC121452282023ZD050620032370696PDJH202406 and PDJH202205Cui HTZhang DDYe AGuo HXLian XXu QKuang XHao GFCheng ZGuo FBLiu YWang CYZhang JYfalseSystematic identification of cancer-type-specific drugs based on essential genes and validations in lung adenocarcinoma.Depicting a global landscape of essential gene-targeting drugs would provide more opportunities for cancer therapy. However, a systematic investigation on drugs targeting essential genes still has not been reported. We suppose that drugs targeting cancer-type-specific essential genes would generally have less toxicity than those targeting pan-cancer essential genes. A scoring function-based strategy was developed to identify cancer-type-specific targets and drugs. The EssentialitySpecificityScore ranked the essential genes in 19 cancer types, and 1151 top genes were identified as cancer-type-specific targets. Combining target-drug interaction databases with research/marketing status, 370 cancer-type-specific drugs were identified, bound to 100 out of all identified targets. Profiles of app2025-01-01T00:00:00Z2025 May2026-06-02T22:25:45.809Z2026-04-21T03:13:35.777ZS-EPMC121452284048354710.1093/bib/bbaf266