A collaboration led by Prof Titia Sixma (Netherlands Cancer Institute, Netherlands) was reported in Nature Communications and describes a detailed mechanistic study of the deubiquitinating enzyme USP7, which is involved in processes such as DNA damage response and apoptosis. Understanding how USP7 achieves specificity for its many cellular targets is important for future clinical development of USP7 inhibitors.

Kinetic analysis of multistep USP7 mechanism shows critical role for target protein in activity

Robbert Q. Kim, Paul P. Geurink, Monique P. C. Mulder, Alexander Fish, Reggy Ekkebus, Farid El Oualid, Willem J. van Dijk, Duco van Dalen, Huib Ovaa, Hugo van Ingen & Titia K. Sixma

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08231-5