Bieth J G
Laboratoire d'Enzymologie, INSERM U 392, Faculté de Pharmacie, 74 route du Rhin, 67400 Illkirch.
J Soc Biol. 2001;195(2):173-9.
Elastases are proteinases capable of solubilizing fibrous elastin. They may belong to the class of serine proteinases, cysteine proteinases and metalloproteinases. Mammalian elastases occur mainly in the pancreas and the phagocytes. Among non-mammalian elastases there is a great variety of bacterial metallo and serine elastases. The elastolytic activity varies from one elastase to another and is usually not correlated with the catalytic efficiency of these proteinases. One may measure this activity using native or labelled elastins. With pure elastases one may use synthetic substrates. There is a large number of natural (proteins) and synthetic elastase inhibitors. Elastases play a pathologic role in pulmonary emphysema, cystic fibrosis, infections, inflammation and atherosclerosis.
弹性蛋白酶是能够溶解纤维状弹性蛋白的蛋白酶。它们可能属于丝氨酸蛋白酶、半胱氨酸蛋白酶和金属蛋白酶类别。哺乳动物弹性蛋白酶主要存在于胰腺和吞噬细胞中。在非哺乳动物弹性蛋白酶中，有多种细菌金属和丝氨酸弹性蛋白酶。不同弹性蛋白酶的弹性溶解活性各不相同，通常与这些蛋白酶的催化效率无关。可以使用天然或标记的弹性蛋白来测量这种活性。对于纯弹性蛋白酶，可以使用合成底物。有大量天然（蛋白质）和合成弹性蛋白酶抑制剂。弹性蛋白酶在肺气肿、囊性纤维化、感染、炎症和动脉粥样硬化中起病理作用。
