title: Calpains and cancer: friends or enemies?
abstract: Calpains are a complex family of ubiquitous or tissue-specific cysteine proteases that proteolyze a variety of substrates (leading to their degradation or functional modulation) and are implicated in several pathophysiological phenomena. In tumor cell biology, calpains are implicated in a triple way: they are involved in different processes crucial for tumor progression, including cell proliferation, apoptotic cell death, survival mechanisms, migration and invasiveness; they have aberrant expression in several human cancers; a variety of anticancer drugs induce cytotoxicity through activation of calpains or the latter can influence response to therapy. This review covers established and recent literature showing these diverse aspects in tumor cells.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, via A. Moro, I-53100 Siena, Italy; Istituto Toscano Tumori (ITT), via T. Alderotti 26/N, I-50139 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: dmonline@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Daniele
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moretti
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, via A. Moro, I-53100 Siena, Italy; Istituto Toscano Tumori (ITT), via T. Alderotti 26/N, I-50139 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: barbara.delbello@unisi.it.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Del Bello
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, via A. Moro, I-53100 Siena, Italy; Istituto Toscano Tumori (ITT), via T. Alderotti 26/N, I-50139 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: giulia.allavena@unisi.it.
authors.forename: Giulia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Allavena
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine, University of Siena, via A. Moro, I-53100 Siena, Italy; Istituto Toscano Tumori (ITT), via T. Alderotti 26/N, I-50139 Firenze, Italy. Electronic address: emilia.maellaro@unisi.it.
authors.forename: Emilia
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Maellaro
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis; D002154:Calpain / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D015853:Cysteine Proteinase Inhibitors; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D002154:Calpain
keywords: Anticancer therapy; Apoptosis; Autophagy; Calpain; Cancer; Cell migration