Protective protein/cathepsin A (PPCA) has a serine carboxypeptidase activity of unknown physiological function. We now demonstrate that this protease activity triggers the degradation of the lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2a (lamp2a), a receptor for chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA). Degradation of lamp2a is important because its level in the lysosomal membrane is a rate-limiting st...

Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a worldwide public issue. In this study, we performed bioactivity-guided screening of the Lonicera hypoglauca Miq. crude extracts to find for naturally chemical entities with anti-HCV activity. Pheophytin a was identified from the ethanol-soluble fraction of L. hypoglauca that elicited dose-dependent inhibition of HCV viral proteins and RNA expressio...

Telaprevir (LY 570310; LY-570310; LY570310; MP 424; MP-424; VX 950; VX-950) is an orally administered peptidomimetic inhibitor of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) protease NS3/4A. It is being developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and its licensees for the treatment of HCV infections and has recently been submitted to the US FDA for approval. As the first ever HCV protease inhibitor in phase III develo...

In this study, the sigA gene situated on the she pathogenicity island of Shigella flexneri 2a was cloned and characterized. Sequence analysis showed that sigA encodes a 139.6-kDa protein which belongs to the SPATE (serine protease autotransporters of Enterobacteriaceae) subfamily of autotransporter proteins. The demonstration that SigA is autonomously secreted from the cell to yield a 103-kDa p...

To investigate which hairpin structures within the 5' untranslated region of hepatitis C virus (HCV) are necessary for cap-independent translation, mutants were constructed that lack one or more hairpin structures. Here we demonstrate, by constructing precisely defined hairpin deletion mutants, that with the exception of the most 5' located hairpin structure, which on deletion shows an increase...