Proteolytic Enzymes as Therapeutic Targets - Keystone Symposium. Targeting ICE and ACE. 3-8 February 2002, Keystone, CA, USA.
The meeting covered a diverse range of topics, from therapeutic design of inhibitors of human proteases involved in disease, to the discovery of novel protease targets in infectious organisms. Various techniques were described, including the bioinformatics-based scanning of genomes for novel enzymes that might be linked to disease or virulence. In addition, crystal structures of well-known proteases were presented. The key focus however, was on designing inhibitors of proteolytic enzymes and their use in controlling disease processes mediated by proteases. Inhibitors described ranged from naturally occurring novel peptides such as Ascaris pepsin inhibitor, to trials with finely tuned peptidomimetics inhibiting human peptidases (interleukin converting enzyme; ICE and angiotensin converting enzyme; ACE) and rhinovirus 3C protease (antirhinovirus therapeutics; Pfizer Inc). The meeting also included presentations on the development of new techniques for detecting and analyzing protease activities such as luminescent protease assays, in vivo imaging of protease activity, surface plasmon resonance and novel peptide library screening methods.
Loukas
Alex
A
George Washington University Medical Center, Department of Microbiology & Tropical Medicine, 2300 Eye Street NW, Ross Hall, Room 727, Washington, DC 20037, USA. mtmacl@gwumc.edu