Adenoviruses belong to the family of Adenovirdae viruses. They cause many diseases, from common cold to life-threatening multiorgan diseases, weakening the immune system. They not only infect human beings, but also many other vertebrates. In humans, more than 50 distinct serotypes of adenovirus have been found. The adenovirus protease (AVP), also called adenain, plays an important role during the maturation of the virus. A comparison of its structure with that of papain suggests that it could be considered as a cysteine proteinase. In view of this it was considered important to design therapeutic agents to block the AVP. For the design and development of enzyme inhibitors the structure of an enzyme plays an important role. Thus this chapter presents the structure and function of AVP in detail and various studies regarding the design and development of its potent inhibitors.
