Salubrinal is a drug which acts as a specific inhibitor of

eIF2α Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2 subunit 1 (eIF2α) is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''EIF2S1'' gene. Function The protein encoded by this gene is the alpha (α) subunit of the translation initiation factor eIF2 prote ...

phosphatase In biochemistry, a phosphatase is an enzyme that uses water to cleave a phosphoric acid Ester, monoester into a phosphate ion and an Alcohol (chemistry), alcohol. Because a phosphatase enzyme catalysis, catalyzes the hydrolysis of its Substrate ...

enzymes and is primarily used experimentally, to study stress responses in

eukaryotic The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the Domain (biology), domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose Cell (biology), cells have a membrane-bound cell nucleus, nucleus. All animals, plants, Fungus, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms ...

cell Cell most often refers to: * Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life * Cellphone, a phone connected to a cellular network * Clandestine cell, a penetration-resistant form of a secret or outlawed organization * Electrochemical cell, a de ...

s associated with the action of eIF2. Salubrinal indirectly inhibits eIF2 as a result of reduced

dephosphorylation In biochemistry, dephosphorylation is the removal of a phosphate () group from an organic compound by hydrolysis. It is a reversible post-translational modification. Dephosphorylation and its counterpart, phosphorylation, activate and deactivate e ...

of its α- subunit, resulting in activation of stress response pathways usually triggered by events such as

oxidative stress Oxidative stress reflects an imbalance between the systemic manifestation of reactive oxygen species and a biological system's ability to readily detoxify the reactive intermediates or to repair the resulting damage. Disturbances in the normal ...

or buildup of unfolded

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...

in the

endoplasmic reticulum The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a part of a transportation system of the eukaryote, eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. The word endoplasmic means "within the cytoplasm", and reticulum is Latin for ...

. Salubrinal has putative

therapeutic A therapy or medical treatment is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis. Both words, ''treatment'' and ''therapy'', are often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx. As a rule, each therapy has indications an ...

value due to its function, but is as yet only used experimentally. Salubrinal is being studied at Indiana University for its potential to fight osteoporosis and accelerate bone healing.

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite journal , vauthors = Kessel D , title = Protection of Bcl-2 by salubrinal , journal = Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications , volume = 346 , issue = 4 , pages = 1320–3 , date = August 2006 , pmid = 16806073 , pmc = 2978664 , doi = 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.06.056 , publisher = Elsevier Inc {{dead link, date=March 2019, bot=medic{{cbignore, bot=medic {{cite journal , vauthors = Lewerenz J, Maher P , title = Basal levels of eIF2alpha phosphorylation determine cellular antioxidant status by regulating ATF4 and xCT expression , journal = The Journal of Biological Chemistry , volume = 284 , issue = 2 , pages = 1106–15 , date = January 2009 , pmid = 19017641 , pmc = 2613630 , doi = 10.1074/jbc.M807325200 , publisher = The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc , doi-access = free {{cite journal , vauthors = Boyce M, Bryant KF, Jousse C, Long K, Harding HP, Scheuner D, Kaufman RJ, Ma D, Coen DM, Ron D, Yuan J , display-authors = 6 , title = A selective inhibitor of eIF2alpha dephosphorylation protects cells from ER stress , journal = Science , volume = 307 , issue = 5711 , pages = 935–9 , date = February 2005 , pmid = 15705855 , doi = 10.1126/science.1101902 , bibcode = 2005Sci...307..935B , s2cid = 86257684 , url = http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/307/5711/935 , url-access = subscription {{cite web, title=Entrez Gene: EIF2S1 eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2, subunit 1 alpha, 35kDa, url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=gene&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=1965, access-date=2010-10-05, publisher=

National Center for Biotechnology Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) is part of the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a branch of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It is approved and funded by the government of the United States. The NCBI is lo ...

, U.S. National Library of Medicine {{cite journal , vauthors = Wek RC, Jiang HY, Anthony TG , title = Coping with stress: eIF2 kinases and translational control , journal = Biochemical Society Transactions , volume = 34 , issue = Pt 1 , pages = 7–11 , date = February 2006 , pmid = 16246168 , doi = 10.1042/BST20060007 , publisher = Biochemical Society {{cite web , title=New compound may accelerate bone healing, prevent osteoporosis, url = http://www.cloningresources.com/research/New_compound_may_accelerate_bone_healing_prevent_osteoporosis.asp , archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110929162126/http://www.cloningresources.com/research/New_compound_may_accelerate_bone_healing_prevent_osteoporosis.asp , archive-date = 29 September 2011 , access-date=2011-08-29 , date=August 2011 Drugs not assigned an ATC code Thioureas Quinolines Trichloromethyl compounds