Biomedical and Biological relevance of subtilases from the S8 family, diverse and widely distributed serine peptidases

Abstract

Serine peptidases are enzymes widely distributed in all organisms. They are characterized for the presence of a serine residue at the active site, responsible of the nucleophilic attack during catalysis. Among serine peptidases, subtilases from the S8 family constitute the second more abundant family. They are divided in two subfamilies: subtilisin subfamily S8A and kexin subfamily S8B. Both subfamilies are widely distributed in all kingdoms, from bacteria to mammals, playing different functions. Prokaryotic subtilases are generally secreted outside the cell, and are mainly known to play a role in either nutrition or host invasion, acting as virulence factors. However, in eukaryotic cells, these enzymes are generally involved in the proteolytic processing of secreted proteins including cytokines, hormones, growth factors and receptors; and are involved in pathologies like cancer, diabetes or infectious diseases. All these elements, justify the great interest of the scientific community on this group of enzymes. This revision specifically highlights their biological roles as well as their biomedical relevance.