Cruzain, the major cysteine protease of the protozoan parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, is a target of rational drug design for chemotherapy of Chagas' disease. The precise biological role of cruzain in the parasite life cycle and the mechanism involved in the trypanocidal effect of cysteine protease inhibitors are still unclear. Here we report biological and ultrastructural alterations caused by cys...

Recently we reported') the isolation and structural elucidation of a SAKAGUCHI-positive metabolite of Streptomyces, found in the course of chemical screening of microbial metabolites. The compound proved to be identical to antipain=' discovered as a protease inhibitor. In the present paper, we wish to report the isolation of another SAKAGUCHI-positive metabolite, KF77-AG6, which corresponds to ...

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitors have been successfully used in highly active antiretroviral therapy for HIV-1 infection. Treatment of patients infected with HIV with HIV protease inhibitors is unfortunately associated with a number of clinically significant metabolic abnormalities and an increased risk of premature atherosclerosis and myocardial infarction. However, the c...

Search for inhibitors to insect proteases is one of many strategies control pests. Previous work has demonstrated successful purification effective from plant origin. Thus, the current study attempted purify protease locally available medicinal plants. The that ethanolic extracts Mimosa diplotricha leaves caused a significant 80% reduction in bovine trypsin activity. inhibitory property protein...

BACKGROUND Serine protease inhibitors act as modulators of serine proteases, playing important roles in protecting animal toxin peptides from degradation. However, all known serine protease inhibitors discovered thus far from animal venom belong to the Kunitz-type subfamily, and whether there are other novel types of protease inhibitors in animal venom remains unclear. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Here...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW HIV infection is an established risk factor for osteoporosis and bone fracture. Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) increases bone resorption leading to an additional 2-6% bone mineral density (BMD) loss within the first 1-2 years of therapy. Although tenofovir disoproxil fumarate is often blamed for antiretroviral drug-associated bone loss, evidence abounds to suggest t...