title: Serpins flex their muscle: I. Putting the clamps on proteolysis in diverse biological systems.
abstract: Serpins compose the largest superfamily of peptidase inhibitors and are well known as regulators of hemostasis and thrombolysis. Studies using model organisms, from plants to vertebrates, now show that serpins and their unique inhibitory mechanism and conformational flexibility are exploited to control proteolysis in molecular pathways associated with cell survival, development, and host defense. In addition, an increasing number of non-inhibitory serpins are emerging as important elements within a diversity of biological systems by serving as chaperones, hormone transporters, or anti-angiogenic factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Cell Biology and Physiology, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh and Magee-Womens Hospital, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15201, USA. gsilverman@upmc.edu
authors.forename: Gary A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Silverman
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Whisstock
authors.forename: Stephen P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Bottomley
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Huntington
authors.forename: Dion
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaiserman
authors.forename: Cliff J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Luke
authors.forename: Stephen C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Pak
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Reichhart
authors.forename: Phillip I
authors.initials: PI
authors.lastname: Bird
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D016923:Cell Death; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002470:Cell Survival; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D006706:Homeostasis; D006801:Humans; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008954:Models, Biological; D010641:Phenotype; D015843:Serpins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D015843:Serpins