Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:3.4.23.5 (cathepsin D)
 4,130 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The biological activity of tumor cells seems to be related to some peptides produced in the same neoplastic cytoplasms. Cathepsin D is considered one of these proteins, which is able to promote mitosis and tumor invasion. The effects of cathepsin D have been studied in tumors of the breast, ovary and endometrium, and in few cases of laryngeal cancer. Using an immunohistochemical method, we have attempted to evaluate cathepsin D expression in 17 cases of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma in comparison with the presence of the same protein in the adjacent normal laryngeal mucosa and in inflammatory cells surrounding the tumor. In 11 cases, cathepsin D was present in more than 50% of neoplastic cells, in 4 cases positive cells were 30-50% of all neoplastic cells, in the last 2 cases less than 30% of neoplastic cells expressed the antigen. In normal respiratory epithelium the expression of cathepsin D was limited to the apex of cells. In flat metaplastic epithelium, we observed a positive reaction of basal and parabasal cells. Such positivity became diffuse to all cellular layers in dysplastic foci. A minimal positivity was also detected in salivary glands and ducts. A strong positivity was present in macrophages around and among tumor cells. Our findings suggest that cathepsin D plays a role in cancerogenesis and growth of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. The expression of cathepsin D also in normal and inflammatory cells may influence the quantitation of this antigen in studies in which cytosolic levels of cathepsin D are measured after protein extraction.
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PMID:Cathepsin D in laryngeal carcinoma. preliminary report. 896 95

Cathepsin D, a protease with the capability of degrading matrix proteins, is implicated in the process of breast and colorectal cancer invasion and metastasis. Biochemical studies in laryngeal cancer have shown a potential prognostic significance of cathepsin D content determination. We studied immunohistochemical positivity of cathepsin D in tumor epithelium and stroma of 61 surgical specimens of squamous cell laryngeal cancer. Immunohistochemical reaction was quantitatively assessed using a PC-based image analysis system SFORM-VAMS. The results were correlated to clinical and morphological parameters and survival. Immunohistochemical positivity was noted in neoplastic cells and tumor stroma. Significant prognostic value for cathepsin D was established separately for epithelial tumor component and tumor stroma using log-rank test, the Cox proportional hazards regression model, and C4.5 machine learning system. In all groups, patients above the median cathepsin D staining showed significantly shorter survival time. C4.5 machine learning system extracted cutoff values for the decision tree that defines the probabilities of patients survival and death with high sensitivity (92.8% alive, 73.6% dead), 100% specificity, and 86.9% accuracy. This makes immunohistochemical cathepsin D estimation an independent prognostic parameter in laryngeal carcinomas within a 5-year period from the time of tumor surgery.
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PMID:Immunohistochemical analysis and prognostic value of cathepsin D determination in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma. 1085 Jul 57