How to Use protease in a Sentence

protease

noun
  • Hilgenfeld thought that molecule—called a protease—could hold the key.
    — National Geographic, 28 Apr. 2020
  • That window is rather narrow for all polymerase and protease inhibitors.
    — William A. Haseltine, Scientific American, 1 Oct. 2020
  • The drugs work by blocking a critical enzyme, a protease, that the virus needs to replicate.
    — Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 24 Mar. 2021
  • Malone had his eyes on a viral enzyme called the papainlike protease, which helps the pathogen replicate.
    — Brendan Borrell, Science | AAAS, 26 Apr. 2020
  • The host cell proteases themselves also make a tempting target.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Mar. 2020
  • That team showed that an inhibitor of this protease blocked coronavirus infections in cultured cells.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 20 Mar. 2020
  • Their design is a motor that follows a trail of peptide molecules laid down on a surface for the trypsin protease to bind to.
    — The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 23 Sep. 2021
  • The fungus then uses proteases to digest nematodes that get stuck in its hyphae.
    — Elizabeth Rayne, Ars Technica, 18 Dec. 2023
  • Lipase breaks down fats, amylase breaks down carbs, and proteases and peptidases both break down proteins, to name a few.
    — Caroline Tien, SELF, 11 Mar. 2026
  • If a drug could prevent the main protease enzyme from working, the virus might stop replicating in cells and in turn, stop spreading throughout the body.
    — Dallas News, 1 July 2020
  • The protease inhibitors and other compounds look promising in cell and animal studies.
    — Science News Staff, Science | AAAS, 31 Dec. 2020
  • A couple of months ago a group of scientists announced their discovery of a new drug candidate that inhibits that protease.
    — William A. Haseltine, Scientific American, 6 July 2020
  • That protein—called a protease—has remained mostly unchanged across variants, Mina added.
    — Kaitlin Sullivan, Health, 29 Sep. 2023
  • But the proteins are first built as long strings called polypeptides; an enzyme called protease then slices them into the fragments from which proteins are assembled.
    — Dhruv Khullar, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2021
  • Paxlovid is a made up of two protease inhibitors, including one used in treating HIV as a booster medicine.
    — Patrick Jackson, The Conversation, 28 Apr. 2022
  • The Pfizer compound was developed to inhibit an enzyme called a protease.
    — William A. Haseltine, Forbes, 5 Apr. 2021
  • This processing is needed before the virus is able to copy its own genome, so inhibiting the protease should block viral reproduction.
    — John Timmer, Ars Technica, 15 Dec. 2021
  • In the stomach, this continues as acids and enzymes called proteases turn protein molecules into smaller chains of amino acids.
    — Mark Gurarie, Verywell Health, 18 Aug. 2025
  • In one lab study, Pfizer researchers tested nirmatrelvir against an enzyme called protease that the virus needs to generate copies of itself.
    — Jared S. Hopkins, WSJ, 18 Jan. 2022
  • Its effectiveness is due to protease inhibitors in the drug that bind to viral enzymes, preventing viruses from replicating in the cell.
    — Tommy Beer, Forbes, 27 Apr. 2021
  • Allerton’s team had a starting molecule, and began trying to make other molecules that would affect the same protease enzyme.
    — Matthew Herper, STAT, 28 Apr. 2022
  • The compounds target a protein that is the Achilles heel for coronaviruses, the coronavirus main protease, Mpro.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 4 Dec. 2020
  • Researchers designed the pill to stop the coronavirus from spreading in people by blocking activity of a key enzyme, known as protease, which the virus needs to replicate.
    — Joseph Walker, WSJ, 22 Dec. 2021
  • The combination of drugs, known by the brand name Kaletra, appears to work to stop enzymes called proteases from allowing the virus to mature and replicate.
    — Scientific American, 13 Feb. 2020
  • These enzymes break down the protein components of the grass (protease) and the cellulose fibers (cellulase), releasing the dirt and green chlorophyll trapped in the garment's fibers.
    — Mary Marlowe Leverette, Southern Living, 14 June 2026
  • The drug Lopinavir is an inhibitor of an enzyme called HIV protease which is involved in the production of viral particles.
    — William Petri, The Conversation, 1 July 2020
  • But the Pfizer drug is meant to work by inhibiting the virus’s ability to break into smaller pieces and replicate itself by dulling an enzyme called protease—not by battling spike proteins.
    — Colleen Stinchcombe, SELF, 14 Dec. 2021
  • Last month, the Japanese drugmaker Shionogi won emergency approval in Japan for its inhibitor of that protease.
    — Ryan Cross, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Dec. 2022
  • Then pretreat with a good-quality liquid detergent (look for one that has the protein-busting enzyme called protease) for 20 minutes, and then brush it around or rub the fabric together.
    — Jura Koncius, Washington Post, 6 Aug. 2019
  • The drugs, called protease inhibitors, block the replication of the AIDS-causing virus by chemically binding a key enzyme.
    — Merrie Monteagudo, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Mar. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'protease.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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