DBZ

DBZ is a diazepine inhibitor of γ-secretase, which cleaves transmembrane proteins including Notch, amyloid precursor protein (APP), and Ephrin-B2 (Borgegard et al). DBZ blocks the cleavage of Notch into its active signalling effector, Notch intracellular domain, with an IC₅₀ of 1.7 nM (Milano et al.).

REPROGRAMMING

• Enables reprogramming of human keratinocytes to induced pluripotent stem cells in the absence of oncogenic reprogramming factors KLF4 and c-MYC (Ichida et al.).

DIFFERENTIATION

• Induces intestinal cell apoptosis & goblet cell metaplasia in rats; attenuates the reduction of paneth cells and goblet cells caused by tuberous sclerosis 2 (TSC2) inhibition (Milano et al.; Zhou et al.).

METABOLISM

• Improves glucose homeostasis and mediates a metabolic shift toward the utilization of fat as the energy source in mice (Bi et al.).

CANCER RESEARCH

• Induces differentiation of intestinal adenomas in Apc(Min) transgenic mice (van Es et al.).
• Decreases the production of inflammatory cytokines by alloreactive T cells after bone marrow transplantation in mice, reducing the severity of graft-versus-host disease (Tran et al.).