Caspases: pharmacological manipulation of cell death.
Caspases, a family of cysteine proteases, play a central role in apoptosis. During the last decade, major progress has been made to further understand caspase structure and function, providing a unique basis for drug design. This Review gives an overview of caspases and their classification, structure, and substrate specificity. We also describe the current knowledge of how interference with caspase signaling can be used to pharmacologically manipulate cell death.
Lavrik
Inna N
IN
Division of Immunogenetics, Tumor Immunology Program, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany.
Golks
Alexander
A
Krammer
Peter H
PH
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D020169:Caspases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D015195:Drug Design; D006801:Humans; D011480:Protease Inhibitors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism / Q000494:pharmacology; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D013379:Substrate Specificity / Q000502:physiology
D061945:Caspase Inhibitors; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D020169:Caspases