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A Multifunctional Protease Inhibitor To Regulate Endolysosomal Function

[Image: see text] Proteases constitute a major class of drug targets. Endosomal compartments harbor several protease families whose attenuation may be beneficial to a number of biological processes, including inflammation, cancer metastasis, antigen presentation, and parasite clearance. As a step to...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: van Kasteren, Sander I., Berlin, Ilana, Colbert, Jeff D., Keane, Doreen, Ovaa, Huib, Watts, Colin
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: American Chemical Society 2011
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3220280/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21910425
http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/cb200292c
Descripción
Sumario:[Image: see text] Proteases constitute a major class of drug targets. Endosomal compartments harbor several protease families whose attenuation may be beneficial to a number of biological processes, including inflammation, cancer metastasis, antigen presentation, and parasite clearance. As a step toward the goal of generalized but targeted protease inhibition in the endocytic pathway, we describe here the synthesis, characterization, and cellular application of a novel multifunctional protease inhibitor. We show that pepstatin A, a potent but virtually insoluble inhibitor of cathepsins D and E, can be conjugated to a single site on cystatin C, a potent inhibitor of the papain-like cysteine proteases (PLCP) and of asparagine endopeptidease (AEP), to create a highly soluble compound capable of suppressing the activity of all 3 principal protease families found in endosomes and lysosomes. We demonstrate that this cystatin–pepstatin inhibitor (CPI) can be taken up by cells to modulate protease activity and affect biological responses.