Latest Protease Stories

“Molecular sled” carries viral enzyme along DNA to find and interact with targets; findings suggest mechanism may be universal Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, with collaborators from Harvard University, the University of Madrid, Princeton University, and the University of Zurich, have discovered a new mechanism that may alter principle understandings of molecular interactions within a cell’s nucleus. The discovery illustrates how...

Exploiting "molecular glues" to target disease relevant proteolytic enzymes Scientists at the University Medical Center of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz in Germany identified a novel strategy to target the oncologically relevant protein-cleaving enzyme Taspase1. Taspase1 levels are not only elevated in cancer cells of patients with head and neck tumors and other solid malignancies but the enzyme is also critical for the development of leukemias. Central to this concept is the...

The novel Natural Sciences Repository aims to provide reliable information on various areas of scientific interest and presents it's content in the simplest words and terms possible. The site has now added the categories Acid Alkaline Diet and Enzyme to it's Acid section. The Diet category contains scientific information on the acid alkaline diet, which is a form of dietary practice based on the belief that several foods we consume leave an alkaline residue in the body. The second...

A previously unknown serine protease forms part of the antibacterial defense arsenal of neutrophil granulocytes Neutrophil granulocytes comprise important defenses for the immune system. When pathogenic bacteria penetrate the body, they are the first on the scene to mobilize other immune cells via signal molecules, thereby containing the risk. To this end, they release serine proteases – enzymes that cut up other proteins to activate signal molecules. Scientists at the Max Planck...

A team led by scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has discovered key elements of a strategy commonly used by tumor cells to survive when they spread to distant organs. The finding could lead to drugs that could inhibit this metastasis in patients with tumors. A cell that breaks away from the primary tumor and finds itself in the alien environment of the bloodstream or a new organ, normally is destroyed by a process known as apoptosis. But tumor cells that express high levels of a...

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Catalyst Biosciences, Inc., the leading company in the discovery and development of engineered proteases, today announced that Pfizer Inc. has initiated a Phase 1 clinical trial for PF-05280602, an investigational proprietary, engineered variant of recombinant human Factor VIIa developed by Catalyst Biosciences. PF-05280602 has been engineered to provide improved acute and prophylactic treatment for hemophilia A...

NEW YORK, Nov. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Oligomerix, Inc. presented results at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Washington D.C. which demonstrated that tau protein forms neurotoxic oligomers with a newly discovered enzymatic function. This proteolytic function results in tau's self-fragmentation and in the degradation of other proteins suggesting a mechanism for its neurotoxic mode-of-action. Furthermore, certain tau oligomer species that contained the highest level of activity also...

MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Virobay, Inc., a privately held biotechnology firm with a broad portfolio of cysteine protease inhibitors for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, neuropathic pain, liver diseases and cancer, presented data showing that one of the company's spectrum-selective cathepsin inhibitors demonstrated efficacy in a mouse model of bone cancer pain. Virobay has a series of advanced, spectrum-selective cathepsin inhibitors with structural diversity...

MENLO PARK, Calif., Nov. 3, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Virobay, Inc., a privately held biotechnology firm with a broad portfolio of cathepsin protease inhibitors for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, neuropathic pain, liver diseases and cancer, today announced the appointment of David B. Karpf, M.D. as chief medical officer. Dr. Karpf has more than 20 years of experience in guiding the clinical development of novel therapeutics, both at growing biotechnology firms and within large...

Researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Monash University, and Virginia Tech have used a set of novel inhibitors to analyze how the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, uses enzymes to chew up human hemoglobin from host red blood cells as a food source. They have validated that two of these parasite enzymes called peptidases are potential anti-malarial drug targets. The research appeared in the Aug. 15 early online issue of the Proceedings of the...