A method of treating a disorder in a subject. The method comprises administering to said subject an effective amount of an agonist of the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R). The subject is a heterozygous carrier of an MC4R mutation, and the disorder results from an attenuated response of MC4R to α-melanocortin stimulating hormone (α-MSH).

The invention provides novel classes of HCV therapeutics that are orally available, safe and effective HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitors and are less susceptible to drug resistance than existing therapeutics. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical composition of these compounds and methods of preparation and use thereof.

The invention provides novel classes of HCV therapeutics that are orally available, safe and effective HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitors and are less susceptible to drug resistance than existing therapeutics. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical composition of these compounds and methods of preparation and use thereof. ##STR00001##

A method of treating a disorder in a subject. The method comprises administering to said subject an effective amount of an agonist of the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R). The subject is a heterozygous carrier of an MC4R mutation, and the disorder results from an attenuated response of MC4R to a-melanocortin stimulating hormone (a-MSH).

This invention relates to a method for producing an alkenyl 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid of Formula I wherein R.sup.1 is a protecting group, n is an integer between 1 and 10, and A and B are chiral centres such that when A is S, B is R and when A is R, B is S. The method comprises a stereoselective formation of the cyclopropane moiety by cycloaddition onto a double bond, in a molecule comprising a chiral template, Formula lc. Further provided is the use of Formula I in the production of stapled peptides. ##STR00001##

The present invention relates to the technical field of biochemistry. Disclosed are a mutant enzyme, the use thereof and a process for preparing a tripeptide by using an enzymatic method. The mutant enzyme comprises: glycine and L-histidine ligase GHS, and tripeptide ligase HKS; or a fusion enzyme of the two. Glycine and L-histidine ligase activity is achieved by means of modifying an Lal enzyme, so as to obtain the GHS enzyme; and the ability for synthesizing dipeptide glycine-L-histidine and L-lysine is achieved by means of using a gshB enzyme, so as to obtain the HKS enzyme. On this basis, the GHS enzyme is further fused with the HKS enzyme by means of using a polypeptide chain, and then a bifunctional enzyme GHKS that links glycine, L-histidine and L-lysine in one step can be constructed, so that a tripeptide is conveniently prepared with a high yield. With regard to the large amount of ATP required in an enzymatic reaction, polyphosphate kinase can be used for cyclic regeneration, such that the amount of ATP is greatly reduced.

A method of treating a disorder in a subject. The method comprises administering to said subject an effective amount of an agonist of the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R). The subject is a heterozygous carrier of an MC4R mutation, and the disorder results from an attenuated response of MC4R to -melanocortin stimulating hormone (-MSH).

A method of treating a disorder in a subject. The method comprises administering to said subject an effective amount of an agonist of the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R). The subject is a heterozygous carrier of an MC4R mutation, and the disorder results from an attenuated response of MC4R to -melanocortin stimulating hormone (-MSH).

A peptide of 3 to 8 amino acid residues may include the sequence:

X.sub.mZ.sub.nPU.sub.q(I),

wherein P is proline, Z is independently a lysine (K) and/or asparagine (N) residue, X is an amino acid residue independently selected from isoleucine (I), phenylalanine (F), methionine (M), alanine (A), valine (V), tryptophan (W), tyrosine (Y), histidine (H), cysteine (C), arginine (R), glutamine (Q) and serine (S), U is an amino acid residue independently selected from arginine (R), glycine (G), serine (S), lysine (K), threonine (T), leucine (L), asparagine (N), histidine (H) and isoleucine (I), m is 0, 1, 2 or 3, n is 1 or 2, and q is 0, 1, 2 or 3.

The invention provides novel classes of HCV therapeutics that are orally available, safe and effective HCV NS3/4A protease inhibitors and are less susceptible to drug resistance than existing therapeutics. The invention also relates to pharmaceutical composition of these compounds and methods of preparation and use thereof.