Our lab is engaged in the development of inhibitors for human tissue kallikreins (KLKs), which comprise fifteen serine proteases found in diverse biological tissues and fluids, and appear to be implicated in several pathological conditions. In the last decade, the number of studies regarding the kallikrein family has increased significantly, with many of the studies investigating the ability of these enzymes to degrade multiple components of the extracellular matrix promoting tumor growth, metastasis and invasion. Thus, inhibitors, or molecules that can control the activity of kallikreins, could represent useful tools to elucidate the role of these enzymes em different pathological conditions, and also for the development of new therapeutic procedures. Among these molecules we have studied more specifically synthetic pseudo-peptides and serpins.

Molecular modeling of a pseudo-peptide in the active site of human tissue kallikrein 5