Protease-Activated Receptors

Protease-activated receptors (PARs) belong to the superfamily of G-protein coupled receptors. (PAR-1 – 4) are activated as a result of proteolytic cleavage by certain serine proteases, hence their name. In this novel modality of activation, a specific protease cleaves the PAR receptor within a defined sequence in its extracellular N-terminal domain. This results in the creation of a new N-terminal tethered ligand, which subsequently binds to a site in the second extracellular loop of the same receptor. This binding results in the coupling of the receptor to G proteins and in the activation of several signal transduction pathways.