In the past ten years, a number of proceedings of symposia on the structure and function of proteolytic enzymes have been pub lished. Their coverage of acid proteases has been limited, mainly due to the lack of significant new information on the structure of these enzymes. In the last four years, however, the primary and tertiary structures of a number of acid proteases have been deter mined, prompting the need to discuss the meanings of the old data and the possibilities for new experimentations. It was for this purpose that the "Conference on Acid Proteases: Structure, Function, and Biology" was organized. It took place at the University of Oklahoma on November 21-24, 1976. This book is a collection of the main lectures delivered at the Conference. Acid Proteases, by definition refers to a group of proteases having an optimal pH in acidic solutions. The classic examples are pepsin and chymosin. Some catalytic features are obviously shared by these proteases, most notably, their inhibition by pepstatin. The use of active center-directed inactivators such as diazoacetyl norleucine methyl ester and 1,2-epoxy-3-(p-nitrophenoxy)propane has shown that two catalytic aspartyl residues are present in most of these enzymes. These apparent cornmon features have prompted the suggestion by several investigators to name this group of enzymes "aspartyl proteases" or "carboxyl proteases".

In this ground-breaking practical reference, the family of aspartic acid proteases is described from a drug developer's perspective. The first part provides a general introduction to the family of aspartic acid proteases, their physiological functions, molecular structure and inhibition. Parts two to five present various case studies of successful protease inhibitor drug design and development, as well as current and potential uses of such inhibitors in pharmaceutical medicine, covering the major therapeutic targets HIV-1 protease, renin, beta-secretase, gamma-secretase,plasmepsins and fungal proteases. A ready reference aimed primarily at professionals in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as for anyone studying proteases and their function.

The VIIth International Conference on Aspartic Proteinases was held in Banff, Alberta, Canada, from October 22 to 27, 1996. The venue was the Banff Centre in the Canadian Rockies, a setting well known worldwide for the scenic beauty and mountain grandeur. It was perhaps presumptuous of the organizers to call this the seventh Aspartic Proteinase Conference but it was felt that the meeting in 1982, organized by Tom Blundell and John Kay, was of an international stature and covered topics sufficiently broad to constitute a conference. Thus, there is a discontinuity in that the Gifu Conference organized by Prof. Kenji Takahashi was the fifth International Conference on Aspartic Proteinases. Officially, there has not been a sixth Conference and if there is confusion, it is the result of my desire to recognize the importance of the London meeting. Banffhosted 106 scientists from 14 different countries. There were 26 invited speak ers among the 44 oral presentations of the 7 main sessions. In addition, there were 53 con tributed poster presentations that spanned the whole range of interest in aspartic proteinases.

Extensively revised and updated, the new edition of the highly regarded Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes is an essential reference for biochemists, biotechnologists and molecular biologists. Edited by world-renowned experts in the field, this comprehensive work provides detailed information on all known proteolytic enzymes to date. This two-volume set unveils new developments on proteolytic enzymes which are being investigatedin pharmaceutical research for such diseases as HIV, Hepatitis C, and the common cold. Volume I covers aspartic and metallo petidases while Volume II examines peptidases of cysteine, serine, threonine and unknown catalytic type. A CD-ROM accompanies the book containing fully searchable text, specialised scissile bond searches, 3-D color structures and much more. - The only comprehensive book on proteolytic enzymes - Includes 671 chapters, each written by experts in their field, on proteolytic enzymes from all groups of living organisms and the viruses, including those that are currently major targets of pharmaceutical research - Accompanying CD-ROM provides fully searchable text, 2D structures of peptidases in color and links directly to PubMed and MEROPS databases - Each chapter describes in detail the enzyme name, its history, activity and specificity, structural chemistry, preparation, biological aspects and distinguishing features - Over 1000 peptidases included

Handbook of Proteolytic Enzymes, Second Edition, Volume 1: Aspartic and Metallo Peptidases is a compilation of numerous progressive research studies on proteolytic enzymes. This edition is organized into two main sections encompassing 328 chapters. This handbook is organized around a system for the classification of peptidases, which is a hierarchical one built on the concepts of catalytic type, clan, family and peptidase. The concept of catalytic type of a peptidase depends upon the chemical nature of the groups responsible for catalysis. The recognized catalytic types are aspartic, cysteine, metallo, serine, threonine, and the unclassified enzymes, while clans and families are groups of homologous peptidases. Homology at the level of a family of peptidases is shown by statistically significant relationship in amino acid sequence to a representative member called the type example, or to another member of the family that has already been shown to be related to the type example. Each chapter discusses the history, activity, specificity, structural chemistry, preparation, and biological aspects of the enzyme. This book will prove useful to enzyme chemists and researchers.

The 5th International Conference on Aspartic Proteinases was held on September 19 through 24, 1993, at Naito Museum of Pharmaceutical Science and Industry, Kawashima cho, Gifu Prefecture, Japan, about 15 miles northwest of Nagoya City. About 100 scientists attended the conference, including 52 from 14 countries outside Japan, and 32 papers were presented by invited speakers, and 58 papers as posters. The purpose of this conference was to present and discuss new information on the structure, function, and biology, and related topics, including biomedical implications, of aspartic proteinases, and this book is a collec tion of nearly all the papers presented at the meeting. Aspartic proteinases belong to one of the four major classes of proteinases, the others being serine, cysteine, and metalloproteinases, and are so called since they have two catalytic aspartic acid residues in common in their active sites. Most of them are optimally active at acidic pH, hence the long-used name "acid proteinases," which, indeed, was the major title of the first conference of this series. However, some of them are active at around neutral pH, indicating their physiological roles in a wider range of pH than hitherto considered.

First multi-year cumulation covers six years: 1965-70.