title: Cysteine protease cathepsin S as a key step in antigen presentation.
abstract: Cathepsin S is a cysteine protease in the papain super-family. Studies have shown that it is highly expressed in antigen-presenting cells. Along with other lysosomal proteases, cathepsin S plays an important role in the major histocompatibility complex class II-restricted antigen presentation, especially in the degradation of the invariant chain, a chaperone peptide bound to the class II complex. Compared with other lysosomal cysteine proteases, cathepsin S has displayed some unique characteristics. As a result, cathepsin S has been implicated as a potential target in the treatment of various disorders ranging from autoimmune diseases to atherosclerosis. Furthermore, a number of small-molecule cathepsin S inhibitors have demonstrated efficacy in disease-relevant models.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut 06877, USA.
authors.forename: Weimin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Denice M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Spero
mesh_terms: D017951:Antigen Presentation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy; D002403:Cathepsins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans
chemical_list: D002403:Cathepsins; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C028217:cathepsin S