Cysteine Proteases: Modes of Activation and Future Prospects as Pharmacological Targets.

ABSTRACT: Proteolytic enzymes are crucial for a variety of biological processes in organisms ranging from lower (virus, bacteria, and parasite) to the higher organisms (mammals). Proteases cleave proteins into smaller fragments by catalyzing peptide bonds hydrolysis. Proteases are classified according to their catalytic site, and distributed into four major classes: cysteine proteases, serine proteases, aspartic proteases, and metalloproteases. This review will cover only cysteine proteases, papain family enzymes which are involved in multiple functions such as extracellular matrix turnover, antigen presentation, processing events, digestion, immune invasion, hemoglobin hydrolysis, parasite invasion, parasite egress, and processing surface proteins. Therefore, they are promising drug targets for var

SUBMITTER: Verma S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4842899 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature