Conference on Proteolytic Enzymes as Therapeutic Targets

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The Keystone Conference on Proteolytic Enzymes as Therapeutic Targets is designed to provide a bridge between the basic sciences surrounding proteinases involved in disease, and approaches to the development of drugs that will inhibit or influence their activities. The meeting is multi-disciplinary in that proteinases from several mechanistic sets will be discussed relative to their involvement in cancer, diseases of the cardiovascular and central nervous systems, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases. Especially timely will be presentations concerning the newly discovered proteinases responsible for liberation of the Abeta peptide of Alzheimer's Disease and development of inhibitors of these enzymes as drugs in AD. Another class of proteinases, the caspases, will also be reviewed relative to drugs for treatment of MI and other diseases, where apoptosis is a crucial factor. As is the case for any drugs, there remain concerns about safety and efficacy of proteinase inhibitors as therapeutic agents The opportunity for airing of various opinions will be provided in this forum. Speakers at the conference are evenly divided between academic and industrial scientists, and each session will include a special invitation to a young scientist selected from among the poster submissions. Many of these individuals lack support for travel and the funds requested would serve a vital function in enabling them to attend. A perusal of the conference outline will amply demonstrate the involvement of women among chairpersons and speakers; indeed, women have made fundamental contributions to our understanding of these proteinase targets. The genomics era has ushered in a whole new spectrum of targets and unique therapeutic avenues for treatment of disease. Proteinases have been shown to be involved in almost every physiological process and have been prominent members of this new target assembly. The ACE inhibitors and those against the HIV- proteinase stand as excellent examines of success in translating basic science to drugs that have made an enormous impact on human health. We expect similar success in the future based upon the research to be discussed at this conference.