Nabil Seidah
Nabil G. Seidah, (born 1949) is a Canadian
Québécois scientist. Born in
Egypt, he was educated at
Cairo University, and subsequently at
Georgetown University where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1973. He emigrated to
Canada and has been working at the
Clinical Research Institute of Montreal (IRCM) since 1974. He is the director of the laboratory of Biochemical Neuroendocrinology. He discovered and cloned seven (PC1, PC2, PC4, PC5, PC7, SKI-1 and PCSK9) of the nine known enzymes belonging to the convertase family. During this period, he also greatly contributed to demonstrating that the
proteolysis by the
proprotein convertases is a wide mechanism that also concerns “non-neuropeptide” proteins such as
growth factors, α-integrins, receptors, enzymes, membrane-bound transcription factors, and bacterial and viral proteins. In 2003, he discovered PCSK9 and showed that point mutations in the
PCSK9 gene cause dominant
familial hypercholesterolemia, likely because of a gain of function related to the ability of PCSK9 to enhance the degradation of cell surface receptors, such as the low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR). He has since worked on the elucidation of the functions and mechanisms of action of PCSK9 and
PCSK7 both in cells and in vivo, and is developing specific PCSK9 and PCSK7 inhibitors/silencers.
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