Aspartic proteases: Potential drug targets for anticancer drug development

Abstract Cancer is one of the leading causes of death among various noncommunicable diseases. The proteases, involved in tumor progression and metastasis, are the attractive targets for anticancer therapy. This chapter presents a collective view on the structure and ligand-based drug design for the inhibition of aspartate proteases (APs). It also highlights the structural aspects of various APs. Interestingly, all APs share structural similarities but certain significantly distinct structural features may be vital to design their selective inhibitors. The chapter also introduces the readers with different classes of APs inhibitors i.e., HIV-1 proteases, cathepsin D, endothelin converting enzyme, γ-secretase and β-secretase inhibitors, etc.