López-Otín Carlos, Matrisian Lynn M
Carlos López-Otín is at the Departamento de Bioquímica y Biología Molecular, Facultad de Medicina, Instituto Universitario de Oncología, Universidad de Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain.
Nat Rev Cancer. 2007 Oct;7(10):800-8. doi: 10.1038/nrc2228.
Proteases have long been associated with cancer progression because of their ability to degrade extracellular matrices, which facilitates invasion and metastasis. However, recent studies have shown that these enzymes target a diversity of substrates and favour all steps of tumour evolution. Unexpectedly, the post-trial studies have also revealed proteases with tumour-suppressive effects. These effects are associated with more than 30 different enzymes that belong to three distinct protease classes. What are the clinical implications of these findings?
长期以来,蛋白酶一直与癌症进展相关,因为它们能够降解细胞外基质,从而促进侵袭和转移。然而,最近的研究表明,这些酶作用于多种底物,并对肿瘤演变的各个步骤都有促进作用。出乎意料的是,试验后的研究还发现了具有肿瘤抑制作用的蛋白酶。这些作用与属于三种不同蛋白酶类别的30多种不同酶有关。这些发现有哪些临床意义?