LAUSR

Human tyrosinase (hsTYR) is the key enzyme ensuring the conversion of L-tyrosine to dopaqui-none, thereby initiating melanin synthesis, i.e. melanogenesis. Although the protein has long been familiar, knowledge about its three-dimensional structure and efficient overexpression protocols emerged only recently. Consequently, for decades medicinal chemistry studies aiming at developing skin depigmenting agents relied almost exclusively on biological assays per-formed using mushroom tyrosinase (abTYR), producing a plethoric literature -often of little useful purpose. Indeed, several recent reports have pointed out spectacular differences in terms of interaction patterns and inhibition values between hsTYR and abTYR, including for widely used standard tyrosinase inhibitors. In this Miniperspective, we summarize the last develop-ments regarding the potential role of hsTYR in human pathologies, the advances in recombinant expression systems and structural data retrieving, and the pioneer generation of true hsTYR inhibitors. Finally, we present suggestions for the design of future inhibitors of this highly at-tractive target in pharmacology and dermocosmetics.