Although the discovery of proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) and development of therapeutic antagonists represent a major triumph of modern clinical medicine, efforts to implement PCSK9 inhibitors (PCSK9i) in patient care have been sobering. This practical guide examines the barriers and opportunities for the successful application of pharmacological inhibition of PCSK9 in cl...

Cationic cell-penetrating peptides have been widely used to enhance the intracellular delivery of various types of cargoes, such as drugs and proteins. These reagents are chemically similar to the multi-basic peptides that are known to be potent proprotein convertase inhibitors. Here, we report that both HIV-1 TAT47-57 peptide and the Chariot reagent are micromolar inhibitors of furin activity ...

TGF-β is synthesized as a proprotein that dimerizes in the endoplasmic reticulum. After processing in the Golgi to cleave the N-terminal prodomain from the C-terminal growth factor (GF) domain in each monomer, pro-TGF-β is secreted and stored in latent complexes. It is unclear which prodomain and GF monomer are linked before proprotein convertase cleavage and how much conformational change occu...

Heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetic disorder characterized by high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels from birth, which exposes the arteries to high levels of atherogenic lipoproteins lifelong and results in a significantly increased risk of premature cardiovascular events. The diagnosis of FH, followed by an appropriate and early treatment is critical to reduce...

Neuroactive peptides are packaged as proproteins into dense core vesicles or secretory granules, where they are cleaved at dibasic residues by copackaged proprotein convertases. We show here that the Caenorhabditis elegans egl-3 gene encodes a protein that is 57% identical to mouse proprotein convertase type 2 (PC2), and we provide evidence that this convertase regulates mechanosensory response...

Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) is an enzyme that plays a key role in regulating the circulating low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C). Among PCSK9 variants, while gain-of-function mutations aggravate degradation of LDL receptors, leading to familial hypercholesterolemia (FH), whereas loss-of-function increase receptor levels, lower and prevent coronary heart disease...

Core Goodeniaceae is a clade of ~330 species primarily distributed in Australia. Considerable variation in flower morphology exists within this group and we aim to use geometric morphometrics to characterize this variation across the two major subclades: Scaevola sensu lato (s.l.) and Goodenia s.l., the latter of which was hypothesized to exhibit greater variability in floral symmetry form. We ...