title: Expression of rat cathepsin S in phagocytic cells.
abstract: Cysteine lysosomal proteases are essential for turnover of intracellular and extracellular proteins. These enzymes are strongly implicated in normal and pathological processes involving tissue remodeling. Among the cysteine proteases, cathepsin S seems to be best suited for such a process since it retains most of its enzymatic activity at neutral pH. In situ hybridization analyses of the adult rat brain, spleen, and lung reveal that cathepsin S mRNA is preferentially expressed in cells of mononuclear-phagocytic origin. After entorhinal cortex lesion of adult rat brain (a paradigm for neuronal degeneration and reactive synaptogenesis), cathepsin S mRNA is dramatically increased in activated microglia in the deafferented dentate gyrus and in macrophages at the wound site, suggesting a role in lesion-induced tissue remodeling. This possibility is further supported by the finding that cathepsin S degrades a number of extracellular matrix molecules at neutral pH and by the finding that inflammatory mediators stimulate its secretion from the microglia and macrophages. These data suggest that cathepsin S is an important player in degenerative disorders associated with the cells of the mononuclear phagocytic system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, New York University Medical Center, New York, New York 10016, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Petanceska
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Canoll
authors.forename: L A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Devi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000201:enzymology; D002403:Cathepsins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans / Q000378:metabolism; D004622:Embryo, Mammalian; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008168:Lung / Q000201:enzymology; D008264:Macrophages / Q000201:enzymology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010586:Phagocytes / Q000201:enzymology*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D013154:Spleen / Q000201:enzymology; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D011508:Chondroitin Sulfate Proteoglycans; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D002403:Cathepsins; C028217:cathepsin S