[Synthetic inhibitors targeting serine and aspartic acid proteases]

The interaction of novel series of synthetic inhibitors with various serine proteases (leukocyte elastase, thrombin, cathepsin G, chymotrypsin, plasminogen activators and plasmin) and an aspartic protease (HIV-1 protease) were studied. Various aspects were analyzed: mechanism of action, structure-activity relationships, and in some cases, molecular modelling and biological evaluation. Functionalized cyclopeptides and N-aryl azetidin-2-ones behaved as suicide substrates acting specifically on trypsin-like proteases (thrombin or urokinase) and elastases, respectively. Novel hydrazinopeptides acted as reversible inhibitors of elastases. Coumarin derivatives inactivated very efficiently chymotrypsin-like proteases (k(inact)/K(I) = 760,000 M(-1) .s(-1)). Inhibitors of HIV-1 protease acting either as inactivators or dimerization inhibitors are under investigation. The inhibitors described above are useful for elucidating the biological roles of the target enzymes and constitute potential drugs.