title: MT1-MMP: a potent modifier of pericellular microenvironment.
abstract: Cells are regulated by many different means, and there is more and more evidence emerging that changes in the microenvironment greatly affect cell function. MT1-MMP is a type I transmembrane proteinase which participates in pericellular proteolysis of extracellular matrix (ECM) macromolecules. The enzyme is cellular collagenase essential for skeletal development, cancer invasion, growth, and angiogenesis. MT1-MMP promotes cell invasion and motility by pericellular ECM degradation, shedding of CD44 and syndecan1, and by activating ERK. Thus MT1-MMP is one of the factors that influence the cellular microenvironment and thereby affect cell-signaling pathways and eventually alters cellular behavior. As a proteinase, MT1-MMP is regulated by inhibitors, but it also requires formation of a homo-oligomer complex, localization to migration front of the cells, and internalization to become a "functionally active" cell function modifier. Developing new means to inhibit "functional activity" of MT1-MMP may be a new direction to establish treatments for the diseases that MT1-MMP mediates such as cancer and rheumatoid arthritis.
authors.affiliation: Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology Division, Imperial College London, Hammersmith, London, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Yoshifumi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Itoh
authors.forename: Motoharu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Seiki
mesh_terms: D002465:Cell Movement / Q000502:physiology; D003094:Collagen / Q000378:metabolism; D005109:Extracellular Matrix / Q000378:metabolism*; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D020782:Matrix Metalloproteinases / Q000378:metabolism*; D053504:Matrix Metalloproteinases, Membrane-Associated; D018919:Neovascularization, Physiologic; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen; D020782:Matrix Metalloproteinases; D053504:Matrix Metalloproteinases, Membrane-Associated; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2