Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.21.73 (urokinase-type plasminogen activator)
10,685 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Matriptase is an epithelial-derived, integral membrane serine protease. The enzyme was initially isolated from human breast cancer cells and has been implicated in breast cancer invasion and metastasis. In the current study, using active matriptase isolated from human milk, we demonstrate that matriptase is able to cleave various synthetic substrates with arginine or lysine as their P1 sites and prefers small side chain amino acids, such as Ala and Gly, at P2 sites. For the most reactive substrates, N-tert-butoxycarbonyl (N-t-Boc)-gamma-benzyl-Glu-Ala-Arg-7-amino-4-methylcoumarin (AMC) and N-t-Boc-Gln-Ala-Arg-AMC, the K(m) values were determined to be 3. 81 and 4.89 microm, respectively. We further demonstrated that matriptase can convert hepatocyte growth factor/scattering factor to its active form, which can induce scatter of Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells and can activate c-Met tyrosine phosphorylation in A549 human lung carcinoma cells. In addition, we noted that matriptase can activate urokinase plasminogen activator but has no affect on plasminogen. These results suggest that matriptase could act as an epithelial, upstream membrane activator to recruit and activate stromal-derived downstream effectors important for extracellular matrix degradation and epithelial migration, two major events of tissue remodeling, cancer invasion, and metastasis.
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PMID:Activation of hepatocyte growth factor and urokinase/plasminogen activator by matriptase, an epithelial membrane serine protease. 1096 9

Oligosaccharide moieties of glycoproteins are structurally altered during development, carcinogenesis, and malignant transformations. It is well known that beta1-6 GlcNAc branching, a product of UDP-GlcNAc alpha-mannoside beta1-6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (GnT-V), is associated with malignant transformation as the results of such alterations. However, the mechanism by which beta1-6 GlcNAc branching is linked to metastasis remains unclear, because the identification of specific glycoprotein(s) that are glycosylated by GnT-V and its biological function have not been examined. We herein report that matriptase, which activates both urokinase-type plasminogen activator and hepatocyte growth factor, is a target protein for GnT-V. The overexpression of GnT-V in gastric cancer cells leads to severe peritoneal dissemination in athymic mice, which can be attributed to the increased expression of matriptase. This increase was due to the acquired resistance of matriptase to degradation, since it is glycosylated by GnT-V and a corresponding increase in the active form. These results indicate that this process is a key element in malignant transformation, as the direct result of oligosaccharide modification.
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PMID:Prometastatic effect of N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase V is due to modification and stabilization of active matriptase by adding beta 1-6 GlcNAc branching. 1186 86

Matriptase is an epithelial-derived, cell surface serine protease. This protease activates hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), two proteins thought to be involved in the growth and motility of cancer cells, particularly carcinomas, and in the vascularization of tumors. Thus, matriptase may play an important role in the progression of carcinomas, such as breast cancer. We examined the regulation of activation of matriptase in human breast cancer cells, in comparison to non-transformed mammary epithelial cells 184A1N4 and MCF-10A. Results clearly indicated that unlike non-transformed mammary epithelial cells, breast cancer cells do not respond to the known activators of matriptase, serum and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). Similar levels of activated matriptase were detected in breast cancer cells, grown in the presence or absence of S1P. However, up to five-fold higher levels of activated matriptase were detected in the conditioned media from the cancer cells grown in the absence of serum and S1P, when compared to non-transformed mammary epithelial cells. S1P also induces formation of cortical actin structures in non-transformed cells, but not in breast cancer cells. These results show that in non-transformed cells, S1P induces a rearrangement of the actin cytoskeleton and stimulates proteolytic activity on cell surfaces. In contrast, S1P treatment of breast cancer cells does not activate matriptase, and instead these cells constitutively activate the protease. In addition, breast cancer cells respond differently to S1P in terms of the regulation of actin cytoskeletal structures. Matriptase and its cognate inhibitor, HGF activator inhibitor 1 (HAI-1) colocalize on the cell periphery of breast cancer cells and form stable complexes in the extracellular milieu, suggesting that the inhibitor serves to prevent undesired proteolysis in these cells. Finally, we demonstrate that treatment of T-47D cells with epidermal growth factor (EGF), which promotes cell ruffling, stimulates increased accumulation of activated matriptase at the sites of membrane ruffling, suggesting a possible functional role at these sites.
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PMID:Deregulated activation of matriptase in breast cancer cells. 1249 94

Bikunin, a Kunitz-type protease inhibitor, could potentially suppress tumor cell invasion and metastasis. Our previous study revealed that overexpression of bikunin in a human ovarian cancer cell line, HRA, resulted in a down-regulation in uPA and uPAR gene expression. For identifying the full repertoire of bikunin-regulated genes, a cDNA microarray hybridization screening was conducted using mRNA from bikunin-treated or bikunin-transfected HRA cells. A number of bikunin-regulated genes were identified, and their regulation was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. Our screen identified 11 bikunin-stimulated genes and 29 bikunin-repressed genes. The identified genes can indeed be classified into distinct subsets. These include transcriptional regulators, oncogenes/tumor suppressor genes, signaling molecules, growth/cell cycle, invasion/metastasis, cytokines, apoptosis, ion channels, extracellular matrix proteins, as well as some proteases. This screen identified suppression of several genes such as CDC-like kinase, LIM domain binding, Ets domain transcription factor, Rho GTPase-activating protein, tyrosine phosphorylation-regulated kinase, hyaluronan-binding protein, matriptase, and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A), which have previously been implicated in enhancing tumor promotion. Northern blot analysis confirmed that several genes including matriptase and PAPP-A were down-regulated by bikunin by approximately 9-fold. Further, genetic inhibition of matriptase or PAPP-A could lead to diminished invasion. These results show that bikunin alters the pattern of gene expression in HRA cells leading to a block in cell invasion.
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PMID:Bikunin target genes in ovarian cancer cells identified by microarray analysis. 1257 Dec 29

Many serine proteases play important regulatory roles in complex biological systems, but only a few have been linked directly with capillary morphogenesis and angiogenesis. Here we provide evidence that serine protease activities, independent of the plasminogen activation cascade, are required for microvascular endothelial cell reorganization and capillary morphogenesis in vitro. A homology cloning approach targeting conserved motifs present in all serine proteases, was used to identify candidate serine proteases involved in these processes, and revealed 5 genes (acrosin, testisin, neurosin, PSP and neurotrypsin), none of which had been associated previously with expression in endothelial cells. A subsequent gene-specific RT-PCR screen for 22 serine proteases confirmed expression of these 5 genes and identified 7 additional serine protease genes expressed by human endothelial cells, urokinase-type plasminogen activator, protein C, TMPRSS2, hepsin, matriptase/MT-SP1, dipeptidylpeptidase IV, and seprase. Differences in serine protease gene expression between microvascular and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were identified and several serine protease genes were found to be regulated by the nature of the substratum, ie. artificial basement membrane or fibrillar type I collagen. mRNA transcripts of several serine protease genes were associated with blood vessels in vivo by in situ hybridization of human tissue specimens. These data suggest a potential role for serine proteases, not previously associated with endothelium, in vascular function and angiogenesis.
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PMID:Endothelial cell serine proteases expressed during vascular morphogenesis and angiogenesis. 1262 42

Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-1 (HAI-1) is an integral membrane protein expressed on epithelial cells and contains two extracellular Kunitz domains (N-terminal KD1 and C-terminal KD2) known to inhibit trypsin-like serine proteases. In tumorigenesis and tissue regeneration, HAI-1 regulates the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF)/c-Met pathway by inhibiting the activity of HGF activator (HGFA) and matriptase, two serine proteases that convert pro-HGF into its biologically active form. By screening a placental cDNA library, we discovered a new splice variant of HAI-1 designated HAI-1B that contains an extra 16 amino acids adjacent to the C terminus of KD1. To investigate possible consequences on Kunitz domain function, a soluble form of HAI-1B (sHAI-1B) comprising the entire extracellular domain was produced. First, we found that sHAI-1B displayed remarkable enzyme specificity by potently inhibiting only HGFA (IC50 = 30.5 nm), matriptase (IC50 = 16.5 nm), and trypsin (IC50 = 2.4 nm) among 16 serine proteases examined, including plasminogen activators (urokinase- and tissue-type plasminogen activators), coagulation enzymes thrombin, factors VIIa, Xa, XIa, and XIIa, and activated protein C. Relatively weak inhibition was found for plasmin (IC50 = 399 nm) and plasma kallikrein (IC50 = 686 nm). Second, the functions of the KD1 and KD2 domains in sHAI-1B were investigated using P1 residue-directed mutagenesis to show that inhibition of HGFA, matriptase, trypsin, and plasmin was due to KD1 and not KD2. Furthermore, analysis by reverse transcription-PCR demonstrated that HAI-1B and HAI-1 were co-expressed in normal tissues and various epithelial-derived cancer cell lines. Both isoforms were up-regulated in eight examined ovarian carcinoma specimens, three of which had higher levels of HAI-1B RNA than of HAI-1 RNA. Therefore, previously demonstrated roles of HAI-1 in various physiological and pathological processes likely involve both HAI-1B and HAI-1.
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PMID:Tissue expression, protease specificity, and Kunitz domain functions of hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-1B (HAI-1B), a new splice variant of HAI-1. 1281 39

The specific inhibition of serine proteases, which are crucial switches in many physiologically important processes, is of value both for basic research and for therapeutic applications. Ecotin, a potent macromolecular inhibitor of serine proteases of the S1A family, presents an attractive scaffold to engineer specific protease inhibitors because of its large inhibitor-protease interface. Using synthetic shuffling in combination with a restricted tetranomial diversity, we created ecotin libraries that are mutated at all 20 amino acid residues in the binding interface. The efficacy of these libraries was demonstrated against the serine protease plasma kallikrein (Pkal). Competitive phage display selection yielded a Pkal inhibitor with an apparent dissociation equilibrium constant (K(i)*) of 11 pM, whereas K(i)* values for related proteases (such as Factor Xa (FXa), Factor XIa (FXIa), urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), thrombin, and membrane-type serine protease 1 (MT-SP1)) were four to seven orders of magnitude higher. The adaptability of the scaffold was demonstrated by the isolation of inhibitors to two additional serine proteases, MT-SP1/matriptase and Factor XIIa.
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PMID:Engineering of a macromolecular scaffold to develop specific protease inhibitors. 1294 66

The hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) is a multifunctional cytokine that is produced as latent scHGF (single chain HGF). Various proteases reportedly cleave scHGF to generate the active two-chain form (HGF), including u-PA (urokinase-type plasminogen activator), t-PA (tissue-type plasminogen activator), kallikrein, Factor XIa, Factor XIIa, HGF activator and matriptase. Considerable evidence indicates that, in vivo, u-PA activates scHGF in the liver; however, the in vivo results have not been uniformly supported by in vitro experiments. We now report that cleavage of scHGF by high-molecular-mass u-PA (abbreviated u-PA throughout) is sensitive to ionic strength. scHGF cleavage by u-PA was accelerated as the ionic strength was decreased. This result was equivalent irrespective of whether the predominant anion was chloride or acetate. Lmw-u-PA (low-molecular-mass u-PA) was ineffective at cleaving scHGF, regardless of ionic strength. Although scHGF shares homology with plasminogen, EACA (-amino-caproic acid) did not regulate u-PA-mediated scHGF cleavage. Soluble HGF receptor (MET) and soluble u-PAR (u-PA receptor) inhibited the scHGF cleavage. These results support a model in which the ability of u-PA to activate scHGF in vivo may be highly dependent on local conditions within the extracellular space.
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PMID:Activation of hepatocyte growth factor by urokinase-type plasminogen activator is ionic strength-dependent. 1586 63

Extracellular proteases of the matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) and serine protease families participate in many aspects of tumour growth and metastasis. Using quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis, we have undertaken a comprehensive survey of the expression of these enzymes and of their natural inhibitors in 44 cases of human prostate cancer and 23 benign prostate specimens. We found increased expression of MMP10, 15, 24, 25 and 26, urokinase plasminogen activator-receptor (uPAR) and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI1), and the newly characterised serine proteases hepsin and matriptase-1 (MTSP1) in malignant tissue compared to benign prostate tissue. In contrast, there was significantly decreased expression of MMP2 and MMP23, maspin, and the protease inhibitors tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 3 (TIMP3), TIMP4 and RECK (reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs) in the cancer specimens. The expression of MMP15 and MMP26 correlated positively with Gleason score, whereas TIMP3, TIMP4 and RECK expression correlated negatively with Gleason score. The cellular localisation of the expression of the deregulated genes was evaluated using primary malignant epithelial and stromal cell cultures derived from radical prostatectomy specimens. MMP10 and 25, hepsin, MTSP1 and maspin showed predominantly epithelial expression, whereas TIMP 3 and 4, RECK, MMP2 and 23, uPAR and PAI1 were produced primarily by stromal cells. These data provide the first comprehensive and quantitative analysis of the expression and localisation of MMPs and their inhibitors in human prostate cancer, leading to the identification of several genes involved in proteolysis as potential prognostic indicators, in particular hepsin, MTSP1, MMP26, PAI1, uPAR, MMP15, TIMP3, TIMP4, maspin and RECK.
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PMID:Identification of degradome components associated with prostate cancer progression by expression analysis of human prostatic tissues. 1592 70

Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) plays a plethora of roles in cancer metastasis and tumour growth. The interaction between tumour cells and their surrounding stromal environment is a crucial factor regulating tumour invasion and metastasis. Stromal fibroblasts are the main source of HGF in the body, and release HGF as an inactive precursor (pro-HGF). HGF activator (HGFA), matriptase, urokinase-type plasminogen activator and hepsin are the main factors responsible for converting pro-HGF into active HGF. HAI-1 and HAI-2 are 2 novel Kunitz-type serine protease inhibitors that regulate HGF activity through inhibition of HGFA, matriptase and hepsin action. Recent studies demonstrate that HAI-1 and HAI-2 may also potently inhibit a number of other pro-metastatic serine proteases and therefore have direct bearing on the spread of tumours. Our study examined the potential of these HAI's to suppress the influence of HGF and regulate cancer metastasis. We generated a retroviral expression system that induced HAI expression in a human fibroblast cell line. Forced expression of either HAI-1 or HAI-2 in these fibroblasts resulted in a dramatic decrease in the production of bioactive hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). This reduction in HGF activity subsequently suppressed HGF's metastatic influence on breast cancer cells. To further assess the anti-cancer properties of HAI-1 and HAI-2 we generated recombinant HAI proteins. These recombinant HAI proteins possessed the ability to potently quench HGF activity. We also demonstrate that these recombinant HAI's suppressed fibroblast-mediated breast cancer invasion. An additional ribozyme transgenes study revealed that elimination of HAI-1 and HAI-2 expression, in an MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line, significantly enhanced the migratory, proliferative and invasive nature of these breast cancer cells. Overall, our data demonstrates the important roles of HAI-1 and HAI-2 in cancer metastasis, and reveals that these serine protease inhibitors display strong therapeutic potential.
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PMID:Hepatocyte growth factor activation inhibitors (HAI-1 and HAI-2) regulate HGF-induced invasion of human breast cancer cells. 1655 97


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