Function
A1AT is a 52-kDa serpin and, in medicine, it is considered the most prominent serpin; the terms α1-antitrypsin and protease inhibitor (Pi) are often used interchangeably.
Most serpins inactivate enzymes by binding to them covalently, requiring very high levels to perform their function. In the acute phase reaction, a further elevation is required to "limit" the damage caused by activated neutrophil granulocytes and their enzyme elastase, which breaks down the connective tissue fiber elastin.
Like all serine protease inhibitors, A1AT has a characteristic secondary structure of beta sheets and alpha helices. Mutations in these areas can lead to non-functional proteins that can polymerise and accumulate in the liver (infantile hepatic cirrhosis).
Read more about this topic: Alpha 1-antitrypsin
Famous quotes containing the word function:
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“The art of living is to function in society without doing violence to one’s own needs or to the needs of others. The art of mothering is to teach the art of living to children.”
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“Nobody seriously questions the principle that it is the function of mass culture to maintain public morale, and certainly nobody in the mass audience objects to having his morale maintained.”
—Robert Warshow (1917–1955)