Description:
The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) is the major cytosolic proteolytic system in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, with critical functions in cell cycle control, apoptosis, inflammation, transcription, signal transduction, protein quality control, and many other biological processes. The central role of UPS in the cell's metabolism and in oncogenes process, explains why the compounds that affect this systems, hold important interest. These molecules can be used both as biochemical tools to investigate the process controlled by UPS and as novel drugs to treat the diseases stemmed from UPS alteration. For these reasons, proteasome inhibition has become a new promising strategy in cancer therapeutics. Several compounds, both natural and synthetic, have been found to affect UPS functionality and some proteasome inhibitors are already efficient anticancer drugs. Recently, it has been reported the porphyrins as a class of molecules able to inhibit Ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis. In this scenario, the research activity at IBB (in collaboration with University of Catania) consists to assess the porphyrins/proteasome interaction employing NMR screening techniques based on the ligand observation such as STD and WaterLOGSY.