Potent and specific peptide inhibitors of human pro-survival protein Bcl-xL.

ABSTRACT: The Bcl-2 family of proteins plays a critical role regulating apoptosis, and pro-survival Bcl-2 family members are important therapeutic targets due to their overexpression in different cancers. Pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 homology 3 (BH3)-only proteins antagonize pro-survival Bcl-2 protein functions by binding directly to them, and a sub-class of BH3-only proteins termed sensitizers can initiate apoptosis via this mechanism in response to diverse signals. The five pro-survival proteins Bcl-xL, Mcl-1, Bcl-2, Bcl-w and Bfl-1 differ in their binding preferences, with Bcl-xL, Bcl-2 and Bcl-w sharing similar interaction profiles for many natural sensitizers and small molecules. Peptides that bind selectively to just one or a subset of family members have shown utility in assays that diagnose apoptotic

SUBMITTER: Dutta S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4357494 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature