摘要
Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is an evolutionarily conserved process of cell suicide. It requires specialized machinery which involving a family of proteases named caspases. Manipulation of apoptosis through inhibiting or activating caspases has been of great therapeutic interests in the pharmaceutical industry. Using substrate based approach, a systematic investigation of conformationally constrained peptidomimetic inhibitors has led to the discovery of highly selective ones against selected members of the caspase family. It also resulted novel dipeptide inhibitors as useful tools and possible therapeutic agents against diseases caused by excessive apoptotic cell death. This presentation will focus on the design, synthesis and application of novel caspase inhibitors. ……
