What is Z-VAD-FMK?

What is Z-VAD-FMK?

Z-VAD-FMK (carbobenzoxy-valyl-alanyl-aspartyl-[O-methyl]- fluoromethylketone) is a cell-permeant pan caspase inhibitor that irreversibly binds to the catalytic site of caspase proteases and can inhibit induction of apoptosis.

What is caspase inhibitor?

Caspases are a family of cytosolic aspartate-specific cysteine proteases involved in the initiation and execution of apoptosis. They are expressed as latent zymogens and are activated by an autoproteolytic mechanism or by processing by other proteases (frequently other caspases).

What is zVAD?

The compound z-VAD-FMK (zVAD), a pan-caspase inhibitor that prevents apoptosis in many different cell types, can trigger necroptosis by inhibiting the activity of caspase-8, which can be triggered by many inflammatory stimuli including Toll-like receptor 3 and 4 agonists, TNF-α, and certain viral infections (19).

What is pan caspase?

Pan-caspase inhibitors act on one or more of the known caspases and are pursued for their ability to treat diseases such as autoimmune disorders and cancer. Pan-caspase inhibitors can either be peptides, proteins, or small molecule inhibitors.

Does ZVAD inhibit caspase 1?

Z-VAD-FMK is a pan-caspase inhibitor that irreversibly binds to the catalytic site of caspases1, 2. It potently inhibits caspase-1 to -11 with the exception of caspase-23,. It inhibits murine caspases, notably caspase-1, caspase-3 and caspase-11, the ortholog of human caspase-4 and -54, 5.

How do you inhibit apoptosis?

Many of these inhibitors act to block caspases, a family of cysteine proteases that play an integral role in apoptosis. Some of these inhibitors include the Bcl-2 family, viral inhibitor crmA, and IAP’s. Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is a highly regulated process used by many multicellular organisms.

Which proteins inhibit apoptosis?

IAPs. The Inhibitors of apoptosis proteins (IAP) are a family of functionally and structurally related proteins that serve as endogenous inhibitors of programmed cell death (apoptosis). A common feature of all IAPs is the presence of a BIR (Baculovirus IAP Repeat, a ~70 amino acid domain) in one to three copies.

What protein is responsible for apoptosis?

The tumor suppressor gene p53 is a gene with a key role in apoptosis. The protein it codes for belongs to a family of proteins that has three members: P53, P63 and P73. All of them have about 60-70% amino-acid identity of the DNA-binding region and all three can induce apoptosis38.

Does zvad FMK inhibit Caspase-1?

Caspase-1 inhibitor Inhibition of caspase signaling by Z-VAD-FMK Z-VAD-FMK is a cell-permeable pan-caspase inhibitor [1, 2]. It potently inhibits human caspase-1 to -10 with the exception of caspase-2.

What is the Z-VAD-fmk inhibitor used for?

The Z-VAD-FMK inhibitor is designed to be used in both in vivo and in vitro cell based assays to measure the inhibition of apoptosis. Reconstitute 1.0 mg of the Z-VAD-FMK inhibitor in DMSO.

Does Z-VAD-fmk induce apoptosis?

The results indicate that in campthothecin treated cells, approximately 42% of the cells were induced to undergo apoptosis and the use of the general caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-FMK reduced the level of apoptosis to that observed in the untreated control.

What is a pan caspase inhibitor?

Pan-Caspase inhibitor. Z-VAD-FMK is a cell-permeable pan-caspase inhibitor that irreversibly binds to the catalytic site of caspase proteases [1]. The peptide is O-methylated in the P1 position on aspartic acid, providing enhanced stability and increased cell permeability.