Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:P01034 (cystatin C)
 3,397 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Expression of the cysteine proteinase cathepsin B and its physiological inhibitor cystatin C was analyzed in vitro in 1 human fibrosarcoma and 4 human colon carcinoma cell lines. Cystatin C antigen as well as cathepsin B activity were detected in the conditioned media of the 5 cell lines. The corresponding cell extracts expressed high levels of cathepsin B activity, whereas only trace amounts of cystatin C antigen could be found. Northern-blot analysis revealed the presence in the 5 cell lines of a 0.8-kb cystatin C mRNA transcript and 2 cathepsin B transcripts of 2.3 and 4.3 kb. Pepsin treatment of tumor-cell-released cathepsin B induced an average 7.3-fold increase in activity, indicating that the enzyme was mainly present as a latent form in conditioned medium. The pepsin-activated cathepsin B from one colon carcinoma cell line was further characterized using the cysteine proteinase inhibitors E-64, recombinant cystatin C, a cystatin-C-derived peptidyl inhibitor (Z-LVG-CHN2), and cathepsin-B-specific diazomethyl ketone inhibitors (Z-FT(OBzl)-CHN2, Z-FS(OBzl)-CHN2). This activity was totally neutralized by recombinant cystatin C, suggesting a potential for interaction between released extracellular cathepsin B and cystatin C. In vitro assays of degradation of extracellular matrix showed that cysteine proteinase inhibitors could decrease matrix degradation induced by pepsin-activated conditioned media. With colon cells, this inhibition was not observed, indicating a requirement for an extracellular activation of latent cathepsin B. Our data provide evidence that cystatin C and latent cathepsin B are both released extracellularly by colon carcinoma cells in vitro. They suggest that cystatin C and cathepsin B interactions may participate, in an as yet unelucidated way, in the modulation of the invasive phenotype of human colonic tumors.
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PMID:Cystatin C and cathepsin B in human colon carcinoma: expression by cell lines and matrix degradation. 139 47

Cystatin C is a human cysteine proteinase inhibitor present in extracellular fluids. Cystatin C and a tripeptide derivative (Z-LVG-CHN2) that mimics its proteinase-binding center, were tested for possible antiviral activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV) and poliovirus type 1. Both recombinant cystatin C and Z-LVG-CHN2 displayed strong inhibitory effects on HSV replication, whereas no significant effect on poliovirus replication was seen. The molar concentration of cystatin C that gave total inhibition of HSV replication was lower than that of either Z-LVG-CHN2 or of acyclovir, the drug currently most used against HSV infections. These results suggest that cysteine proteinase inhibitors might play a physiological role as inhibitors of viral replication and that such proteinase inhibitors, or peptide derivatives that mimic their proteinase-binding centers, might be used as antiviral agents.
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PMID:Cystatin C, a human proteinase inhibitor, blocks replication of herpes simplex virus. 215 54

Cysteine proteinases are important not only in the intracellular catabolism of peptides and proteins and in the processing of prohormones and proenzymes, but also in the penetration of normal human tissue by malignant cells and possibly microorganisms, including viruses. Cystatin C is a human cysteine proteinase inhibitor present in extracellular fluids. We have synthesized peptide derivatives mimicking the proposed proteinase-binding centre of cystatin C and find that they irreversibly inhibit cysteine proteinases. Several bacteria produce proteinases, so we tested a tripeptide derivative (Z-LVG-CHN2) for in vitro anti-bacterial activity against a large number of bacterial strains belonging to thirteen different species. It was found to inhibit specifically the growth of all strains of group A streptococci. The susceptibility of these human pathogens to the peptide was compared with that to well-established anti-streptococcal antibiotics such as tetracycline and bacitracin. Moreover, the peptide was active in vivo against group A streptococci: mice injected with lethal doses of these bacteria were cured by a single injection of Z-LVG-CHN2. The cysteine proteinase produced by group A streptococci was isolated and found to be inhibited by Z-LVG-CHN2; moreover, excess proteinase relieved the growth inhibition caused by the peptide derivative, suggesting that the antibacterial activity of Z-LVG-CHN2 is due to inhibition of this cysteine proteinase. This strategy of blocking proteinases with peptide derivatives that mimic naturally occurring inhibitors could be useful in the construction of new agents against other microorganisms, including viruses.
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PMID:Bacterial growth blocked by a synthetic peptide based on the structure of a human proteinase inhibitor. 264 59

Biotin-labelled peptidyl diazomethane inhibitors of cysteine proteinases, based on the N-terminal substrate-like segment of human cystatin C, a natural inhibitor of cysteine proteinases, were synthesized. These synthetic derivatives were tested as irreversible inhibitors of cruzipain, the major cysteine proteinase of Trypanosoma cruzi, to compare the kinetics of the inhibition of the parasite proteinase with that of the mammalian cathepsins B and L. The accessibility of the active sites of these proteinases to these probes was also investigated. The inhibition of cruzipain by Biot-LVG-CHN2 (where Biot represents biotinyl and L,V and G are single-letter amino acid residue abbreviations) and Biot-Ahx-LVG-CHN2 (where Ahx represents 6-aminohexanoic acid) was similar to that of unlabelled inhibitor. Biotin labelling of the inhibitor slowed the inhibition of both cathepsin B and cathepsin L. Adding a spacer arm (Ahx) between the biotin and the peptide moiety of the derivative increased the inhibition of cathepsin B but not that of cathepsin L. The discrimination provided by this spacer is probably due to differences in the topologies of the binding sites of proteinases, a feature that can be exploited to improve targeting of individual cysteine proteinases. Analysis of the blotted proteinases revealed marked differences in the accessibility of extravidin-peroxidase conjugate to the proteinase-bound biotinylated inhibitor. Cruzipain molecules exposed to Biot-LVG-CHN2 or Biot-Ahx-LVG-CHN2 were readily identified, but the reaction was much stronger when the enzyme was treated with the spacer-containing inhibitor. In contrast with the parasite enzyme, rat cathepsin B and cathepsin L treated with either Biot-LVG-CHN2 or Biot-Ahx-LVG-CHN2 produced no detectable bands. Papain, the archetype of this family of proteinases, was poorly labelled with Biot-LVG-CHN2, but strong staining was obtained with Biot-Ahx-LVG-CHN2. These findings suggest that optimized biotinylated diazomethanes might considerably improve their selectivity for the T. cruzi target enzyme.
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PMID:Biotin-labelled peptidyl diazomethane inhibitors derived from the substrate-like sequence of cystatin: targeting of the active site of cruzipain, the major cysteine proteinase of Trypanosoma cruzi. 880 25