The proteasome is a multicatalytic protease that plays a critical role in the cell. The control of proteasomes could, thus, provide a weapon for the treatment of cancer. Therefore, we have synthesized six new peptide aldehyde inhibitors of the proteasome linked to the N-(2- diethylaminoethyl) benzamide (BZA-CO) structure, in order to target the cytotoxic activity to malignant melanoma cells. Biological studies demonstrated the influence of length and ...