Linardoutsos Dimitrios, Gazouli Maria, Machairas Anastasios, Bramis Ioannis, Zografos Georgios C
1st Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, Hippocration General Hospital, School of Medicine, University of Athens, Athens, Greece.
J BUON. 2014 Jan-Mar;19(1):53-9.
Human tissue kallikrein (KLK1) and is related peptidases (KLK2-KLK15) are a family of 15 homologous serine proteases, participating in numerous processes of normal physiology. Considering the irreversible impact of proteases on substrates, the tissue-dependent regulation of KLKs activity becomes crucial for their beneficial role in normal homeostasis. Moreover, KLKs expression is strongly regulated at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional level by steroid hormones and miRNAs, respectively. Deregulation of KLKs expression, secretion and/or activation has been observed in most human malignancies and there is a trend to identify their role in the multi-complex process of cancer development. The identification of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins, cell-surface receptors, cell-surface adhesion molecules and growth factors among substrates, clearly support the driving role of KLK abnormal expression and function during tumorigenesis and cancer progression. KLKs have also clinical utility in cancer diagnosis and monitoring like KLK 3 (PSA) in prostate cancer. In this review, we tried to summarize the existing literature about the role of KLKs in gastrointestinal cancers as well as to emphasize their clinical significance for patients' prognosis.
人组织激肽释放酶（KLK1）及其相关肽酶（KLK2 - KLK15）是一个由15种同源丝氨酸蛋白酶组成的家族，参与众多正常生理过程。鉴于蛋白酶对底物具有不可逆的影响，KLKs活性的组织依赖性调节对于其在正常体内平衡中的有益作用至关重要。此外，KLKs的表达分别在转录水平和转录后水平受到类固醇激素和微小RNA的强烈调控。在大多数人类恶性肿瘤中均观察到KLKs表达、分泌和/或激活失调，并且存在一种趋势，即确定它们在癌症发展的多复杂过程中的作用。在底物中鉴定出细胞外基质（ECM）蛋白、细胞表面受体、细胞表面黏附分子和生长因子，这明确支持了KLK异常表达和功能在肿瘤发生和癌症进展过程中的驱动作用。KLKs在癌症诊断和监测方面也具有临床应用价值，如前列腺癌中的KLK 3（PSA）。在本综述中，我们试图总结关于KLKs在胃肠道癌症中作用的现有文献，并强调它们对患者预后的临床意义。
