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

Protein degradation was measured as tyrosine release rate from proteins of extensor digitorum longus (EDL) muscles and as urinary excretion of 3-methylhistidine in freely fed adult nongrowing C57BL/6J mice with sarcomas, to study protein degradation in cancer-induced wasting of skeletal muscles. Whole muscle protein breakdown rate was unchanged, whereas protein synthesis was depressed, leading to an increased net degradation of skeletal muscles with loss of soluble, myofibrillar, and collagen proteins. Starvation for 24 hours elevated whole muscle protein breakdown in mice with and without sarcomas. Subsequent refeeding for 24 hours normalized the degradation. Adaptation to anorexia in pair-fed controls was achieved by a decrease in muscle protein turnover evaluated by urinary excretion of 3-methylhistidine over 5 days. The measurement of "catabolic decrease" of muscle protein breakdown protected the muscle mass in mice without tumors, but it was ineffective in tumor-bearing animals. The unchanged rate of breakdown of proteins in whole EDL muscles from tumor-bearing mice was accompanied by increased maximum cathepsin D activity and by elevated autolytic activity at acid pH in some muscles. Therefore, cathepsin D activity and net protease activities did not reflect whole muscle protein degradation in tumor-induced malnutrition. The results demonstrate that wasting of skeletal muscles in experimental cancer was not dependent on increased degradation but was dependent on depressed protein synthesis.
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PMID:Lack of evidence for elevated breakdown rate of skeletal muscles in weight-losing, tumor-bearing mice. 657 91

Cancer patients have increased insulin resistance in skeletal muscles and probably also in the liver. The insulin production in response to a glucose challenge is decreased. This is associated with decreased glucose uptake in peripheral tissues and increased gluconeogenesis from amino acids, lactate, and glycerol. The correlation between the insulin response to a glucose challenge and the activities of glycolytic and oxidative rate-limiting enzymes in muscle tissue suggests a common denominator for these metabolic alterations. The most prominent feature in alteration of lipid metabolism is a reduction of body fat, probably dependent on increased lipolysis. The released fatty acids are oxidized outside the tumor mass. Species characteristics may be important for the degree of hyperlipidemia. Wasting of the skeletal muscle mass is caused by decreased protein synthesis and probably increased degradation. Anorexia can induce but not entirely explain this altered protein metabolism. Decreased physical activity may be another important factor for the depressed protein synthesis. Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) improves the muscle protein synthesis. The mechanism behind increased fractional degradation of muscle proteins in vitro is not clear, but it may be coupled to increased cathepsin D activity.
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PMID:Metabolism in peripheral tissues in cancer patients. 680 27

Mice deficient for the major lysosomal aspartic proteinase cathepsin D, generated by gene targeting, develop normally during the first 2 weeks, stop thriving in the third week and die in a state of anorexia at day 26 +/- 1. An atrophy of the ileal mucosa first observed in the third week progresses towards widespread intestinal necroses accompanied by thromboemboli. Thymus and spleen undergo massive destruction with fulminant loss of T and B cells. Lysosomal bulk proteolysis is maintained. These results suggest, that vital functions of cathepsin D are exerted by limited proteolysis of proteins regulating cell growth and/or tissue homeostasis, while its contribution to bulk proteolysis in lysosomes appears to be non-critical.
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PMID:Mice deficient for the lysosomal proteinase cathepsin D exhibit progressive atrophy of the intestinal mucosa and profound destruction of lymphoid cells. 764 79