| abstract |
Isolated polypeptide and its derivatives having a biological protease activity for the human precursor IL-1beta and for a substrate comprising: R1-Asp-R2-R3 in which R1 and R3 independently represent any amino isomer, R2 represents Ala or Gly, and wherein any specific protease cleavage site is between Asp and R2. Also provided are inhibitor compounds, compositions and methods for inhibiting the activity of Interleukin 1beta protease. The inhibitor compounds include an amino acid sequence of 1 to about 5 amino acids having an N-terminal blocking group and a C-terminal Asp residue connected to an electronegative leaving group, in which the amino acid sequence corresponds to the sequence Ala-Tyr-Val-His-Asp |