BACKGROUND The intravenous use of protease inhibitors in patients with acute pancreatitis is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of protease inhibitors intravenously administered to prevent pancreatitis-associated complications. METHODS We updated our previous meta-analysis with articles of randomized controlled trials published from January 1965 t...

OBJECTIVES Protease inhibitors are used to treat acute pancreatitis, but their effectiveness remains unclear. We performed a meta-analysis to determine whether treatment with protease inhibitors reduces overall mortality or morbidity from acute pancreatitis. METHODS Articles of randomized controlled trials evaluating effects of protease inhibitors for acute pancreatitis were retrieved by syst...

Purpose of review Increased total body fat with truncal redistribution is common in antiretroviral therapy (ART)-controlled persons living HIV(PLWH), leading to insulin resistance, prediabetes/diabetes and dyslipidaemia. We address these topics here. Recent findings Most antiretrovirals are associated gain trunk fat, including visceral adipose tissue (VAT). Protease-inhibitors could inhibit whi...

BACKGROUND The NS3 protease of hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a prime target for anti-HCV drugs but resistance towards inhibitors of the enzyme is likely to emerge because of mutations in the viral genome that modify the structure of the protein. Enzyme inhibition data supporting this is limited to studies with few compounds and analysis performed with truncated NS3. EXPERIMENTAL The potential of...

It is known that cyanobacteria negatively affect herbivores due to their production of toxins such as protease inhibitors. In the present study we investigated potential interspecific differences between two major herbivores, Daphnia magna and Daphnia pulex, in terms of their tolerance to cyanobacteria with protease inhibitors. Seven clones each of D. magna and of D. pulex were isolated from di...

Papain family cysteine proteases are key factors in the pathogenesis of cancer invasion, arthritis, osteoporosis, and microbial infections. Targeting this enzyme family is therefore one strategy in the development of new chemotherapy for a number of diseases. Little is known, however, about the efficacy, selectivity, and safety of cysteine protease inhibitors in cell culture or in vivo. We now ...

The lipid and metabolic disturbances associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) protease inhibitor therapy in AIDS have stimulated interest in developing new agents that minimize these side effects in the clinic. The underlying explanation of mechanism remains enigmatic, but a recently described link between endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and dysregulation of lipid metabolism suggest...

protease inhibitors have played an instrumental role in decreasing mortality and morbidity among people with hiv infection. At the same time, this class of antiretrovirals has been associated with a number of disadvantages. First, protease inhibitor therapy often comes with a high pill burden, complex dosing schedules, and careful dietary considerations. Second, they are associated with a growi...

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is recognized as the most effective treatment method for AIDS, and protease inhibitors play a very important role in HAART. However, poor bioavailability and unbearable toxicity are their common disadvantages. Thus, the development of safer and potentially promising protease inhibitors is eagerly needed. In this review, we introduced the chemical cha...

Antiviral inhibitors of HIV-1 protease are a notable success of structure-based drug design and have dramatically improved AIDS therapy. Analysis of the structures and activities of drug resistant protease variants has revealed novel molecular mechanisms of drug resistance and guided the design of tight-binding inhibitors for resistant variants. The plethora of structures reveals distinct molec...