Cysteine Cathepsins and Cystatins as Cancer Biomarkers

Cysteine cathepsins are lysosomal cysteine proteases that are involved in a number of important biological processes, including intracellular protein turnover, propeptide and prohormone processing, apoptosis, bone remodelling, and reproduction. In cancer, the cathepsins have been linked to extracell...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Cancer Degradome pp. 587 - 625
Main Authors Lah, Tamara T., Obermajer, Nataša, Alonso, María Beatriz Durán, Kos, Janko
Format Book Chapter
LanguageEnglish
Published New York, NY Springer New York 2008
Subjects
Benign Meningioma
Breast Cancer
Cysteine Cathepsin
Prostate Carcinoma
Tongue Cancer
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Summary:Cysteine cathepsins are lysosomal cysteine proteases that are involved in a number of important biological processes, including intracellular protein turnover, propeptide and prohormone processing, apoptosis, bone remodelling, and reproduction. In cancer, the cathepsins have been linked to extracellular matrix remodelling and to the promotion of tumour cell motility, invasion, angiogenesis and metastasis, resulting in poor outcome of the disease. The levels of cathepsins as well as of their endogenous inhibitor cystatins in clinical samples have been suggested as potential biomarkers, and this chapter is focused on their role to predict the diagnosis, risk of recurrence and death, and response to therapy in patients with cancer.
ISBN:0387690565
9780387690568
DOI:10.1007/978-0-387-69057-5_29