Selective irreversible inhibition of a protease by targeting a noncatalytic cysteine.
Hagel, M., Niu, D., St.Martin, T., Sheets, M.P., Qiao, L., Bernard, H., Karp, R.M., Zhu, Z., Labenski, M.T., Chaturvedi, P., Nacht, M., Westlin, W.F., Petter, R.C., Singh, J.(2011) Nat Chem Biol 7: 22-24
- PubMed: 21113170
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.492
- Primary Citation of Related Structures:
3OYP - PubMed Abstract:
Designing selective inhibitors of proteases has proven problematic, in part because pharmacophores that confer potency exploit the conserved catalytic apparatus. We developed a fundamentally different approach by designing irreversible inhibitors that target noncatalytic cysteines that are structurally unique to a target in a protein family. We have successfully applied this approach to the important therapeutic target HCV protease, which has broad implications for the design of other selective protease inhibitors.
Organizational Affiliation:
Avila Therapeutics, Inc., Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.