Caspases: recent advances in small molecule inhibitors

Caspases are a family of intracellular cysteine proteases that play critical roles in both cytokine maturation and apoptosis. Since this family of enzymes was discovered, there has been increasing interest in their pharmacological modulation, which may provide useful therapies for inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, or in conditions where inappropriate apoptosis contributes to disease pathologies such as neurodegenerative disorders and ischaemia-related cell death. Thus, there is currently considerable activity in the search for caspase inhibitors. This review describes and summarises selected patent activity in this field from January 1998 to April 2001, with particular emphasis placed on those patents which disclose novel small molecule inhibitors of this important class of enzymes.