title: Cysteine cathepsins (proteases)--on the main stage of cancer?
abstract: Cysteine cathepsins are involved in degradation of extracellular matrix, facilitating growth, invasion, and metastasis of tumor cells, in tumor angiogenesis, in apoptosis, and in events of inflammatory and immune responses. In this issue of Cancer Cell, demonstrate association of increased cathepsins activity with angiogenic vasculature and invasive fronts of carcinomas during tumorigenesis in transgenic mouse models using activity-based chemical probes and in vivo imaging. Moreover, this study shows that a broad-spectrum cysteine cathepsin inhibitor effectively blocks several stages of tumorigenesis in the RIP1-Tag2 transgenic mouse model, offering new therapeutic opportunities in cancer treatment.
authors.affiliation: Jozef Stefan Institute, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Jamova 39, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia. vito.turk@ijs.si
authors.forename: Vito
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Turk
authors.forename: Janko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kos
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Turk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002403:Cathepsins / Q000502:physiology*; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000098:blood supply / Q000201:enzymology / Q000517:prevention & control; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000517:prevention & control
chemical_list: D002403:Cathepsins