Wang Yan, Huang Jin-Chen, Zhou Zhang-Lin, Yang Wu, Guastella John, Drewe John, Cai Sui Xiong
Maxim Pharmaceuticals, 6650 Nancy Ridge Drive, San Diego, CA 92121, USA.
Bioorg Med Chem Lett. 2004 Mar 8;14(5):1269-72. doi: 10.1016/j.bmcl.2003.12.065.
This article describes the synthesis and biological evaluation of a series of dipeptidyl aspartyl fluoromethylketones as caspase-3 inhibitors. Structure-activity relationship (SAR) studies showed that for caspase-3 inhibition, Val is the best P(2) amino acid. The SAR studies also showed that the Asp free carboxylic acid in P(1) is important for caspase inhibiting activities, as well as for selectivity over other proteases.