Salgado Jesús, García-Sáez Ana J, Malet Gema, Mingarro Ismael, Pérez-Payá Enrique
Departament de Bíoquimica i Biologia Molecular, Universitat de València, E-461 00 Burjassot, Valencia, Spain.
J Pept Sci. 2002 Oct;8(10):543-60. doi: 10.1002/psc.414.
Apoptosis is a complex process that plays a central role in physiological and pathological cell death. This fast evolving research area has experienced incredible development in the past few years. Progress in the knowledge of the structure of many of the main molecular actors of the apoptotic signal transduction pathways has driven the design of synthetic peptides that in some cases can function as simplified versions of their parent proteins. These molecules are contributing to a better understanding of the activity and regulation of apoptotic proteins and also are setting the basis for the discovery of effective drugs to combat important diseases related to apoptosis. Most applications of peptides in apoptosis research are so far related to caspases, caspase regulatory proteins, such as LAPs and Smac, and proteins of the Bcl-2 family. Additionally, important perspectives are open to other systems, such as the macromolecular assemblies that are responsible for the activation of initiator caspases.
细胞凋亡是一个复杂的过程，在生理性和病理性细胞死亡中起核心作用。在过去几年里，这个快速发展的研究领域取得了惊人的进展。对凋亡信号转导通路中许多主要分子参与者结构的认识进展推动了合成肽的设计，在某些情况下，这些合成肽可以作为其母体蛋白的简化版本发挥作用。这些分子有助于更好地理解凋亡蛋白的活性和调节，也为发现对抗与细胞凋亡相关的重要疾病的有效药物奠定了基础。到目前为止，肽在细胞凋亡研究中的大多数应用都与半胱天冬酶、半胱天冬酶调节蛋白（如LAPs和Smac）以及Bcl-2家族蛋白有关。此外，其他系统也有重要的研究前景，比如负责起始半胱天冬酶激活的大分子组装体。
