Gabrijelcic D, Svetic B, Spaić D, Skrk J, Budihna M, Dolenc I, Popovic T, Cotic V, Turk V
Department of Biochemistry, J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Yugoslavia.
Eur J Clin Chem Clin Biochem. 1992 Feb;30(2):69-74.
We have measured the activity of the cysteine proteinase cathepsin B, the inhibitory activity of cysteine proteinase inhibitors and the amounts of cathepsins B, H and L in normal sera and sera from patients with breast cancer, as well as in tissue homogenates of tumorous and non-tumorous samples. The amounts of cathepsin B, determined by ELISA in tumour sera (n = 17) were significantly higher than the amounts determined in normal sera (n = 20). On the other hand, the differences in the amounts measured in tumour sera were not significant when compared with the known histopathological characteristics. In cytosols of breast cancer tumour tissue in general, the level of cathepsin H was higher than those of cathepsins B and L in all samples tested. In the same samples, at least a 10-fold increase of cathepsin B (activity and quantity) was detected in matched pairs (n = 20) of carcinoma and normal tissue of the same breast (p less than 0.01). The amount of cathepsin B correlated with the degree of malignancy inside the histological subtypes of invasive ductal carcinoma (n = 90, p less than 0.01). In addition, a negative correlation of values for cathepsin B with the involvement of regional lymph nodes (n = 75, p less than 0.01) was found inside the same group. In contrast, the activities of cysteine proteinase inhibitors did not correlate with any of the known clinical data. Our data provide further indirect evidence for the involvement of cathepsin B in the processes of tumour growth and metastasis in breast carcinoma. The follow-up studies will verify the prognostic value of these findings.
我们测定了半胱氨酸蛋白酶组织蛋白酶B的活性、半胱氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂的抑制活性，以及正常血清和乳腺癌患者血清中组织蛋白酶B、H和L的含量，同时也测定了肿瘤和非肿瘤样本的组织匀浆中的这些指标。通过酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）测定的肿瘤血清（n = 17）中组织蛋白酶B的含量显著高于正常血清（n = 20）中的含量。另一方面，与已知的组织病理学特征相比，肿瘤血清中测得的含量差异并不显著。总体而言，在所有测试的乳腺癌肿瘤组织细胞溶质中，组织蛋白酶H的水平高于组织蛋白酶B和L的水平。在相同样本中，在同一乳房的癌组织和正常组织配对样本（n = 20）中检测到组织蛋白酶B（活性和含量）至少增加了10倍（p < 0.01）。组织蛋白酶B的含量与浸润性导管癌组织学亚型内的恶性程度相关（n = 90，p < 0.01）。此外，在同一组内发现组织蛋白酶B的值与区域淋巴结受累情况呈负相关（n = 75，p < 0.01）。相比之下，半胱氨酸蛋白酶抑制剂的活性与任何已知的临床数据均无相关性。我们的数据为组织蛋白酶B参与乳腺癌肿瘤生长和转移过程提供了进一步的间接证据。后续研究将验证这些发现的预后价值。
