This book is intended for research workers and clinicians, as well as graduates and advanced undergraduates. The text is clear and liverly and assumes little knowledge, yet it takes the reader to frontiers of what is currently known about this most exciting and medically important area of physiology.

Proteases are enzymes that essentially "eat" protein. You can think of the protease as the Achilles´heel of an infectious organism: without it, the invading microbe cannot properly mount an attack against a host. It is for this reason that proteases have become popular targets for drugs discovery. The defense against HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is the best documented case of the efficacy of protease inhibitors.

Recent efforts have provided dramatic increases in our understanding of the structure and function of proteolytic enzymes of infectious agents. As the activity of proteases is in many casesessential to the life cycle of the infectious organism, the development of selective and potent inhibitors may lead to new therapeutic agents. This bookcollectys reviews from leading experts describing the latest information on the properties of key chapters provides the critical facts needed to initiate a drug discovery effort in that particular area.