Recent evidence suggests that many tissue kallikreins are implicated in carcinogenesis. Kallikrein 8 (KLK8) plays a role in the physiology of the central nervous system. Kallikrein 7 (KLK7) takes part in skin desquamation. Both show altered expression in ovarian and breast cancer. In this study, we examined the level of mRNA expression of the KLK7 and KLK8 genes in 73 intracranial tumors using ...

To study the digestion pattern of human high-molecular weight (mol wt) kininogen (HMWK) in plasma during contact activation we have prepared monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) to the light-chain (LC) and the heavy-chain moiety of HMWK. One MoAb from each set was purified, and neither MoAb inhibited the clotting activity of HMWK. In enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and immunoblotting experiments nei...

Kallikreins-related peptidases (KLKs) are serine proteases and have been implicated in the desquamation process of the skin. Their activity is tightly controlled by epidermal protease inhibitors like the lympho-epithelial Kazal-type inhibitor (LEKTI). Defects of the LEKTI-encoding gene serine protease inhibitor Kazal type (Spink)5 lead to the absence of LEKTI and result in the genodermatose Net...

Current routine cell culture techniques are only poorly suited to capture the physiological complexity of tumor microenvironments, wherein tumor cell function is affected by intricate three-dimensional (3D), integrin-dependent cell-cell and cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions. 3D cell cultures allow the investigation of cancer-associated proteases like kallikreins as they degrade ECM p...

Prokallikrein in the kidney was partially purified with immunoaffinity and DEAE Sephadex A-50 column chromatographies, and its biochemical properties were studied in comparison to three active glandular kallikreins purified from kidney, serum, and urine of the rat. The properties of the enzyme obtained by trypsin activation of prokallikrein were identical with those of active glandular kallikre...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis (UC), are complex disorders characterized by chronic, local and systemic inflammation and spontaneously relapsing course. The causes of these diseases are unknown, however they display genetic and environmental components and appear to be immunologically mediated in part by enteric microbiota (Baumgart & Carding...

Kallikreins are serine proteases that release kinins from kininogens. Kinins, via their effects on cardiovascular and renal function, may be involved in the pathogenesis of hypertension and renal failure. Two groups of kallikreins exist, glandular or tissue kallikrein and plasma kallikrein. In this study, we examined the human plasma kallikrein gene KLK3 to determine whether it contributed to e...

Netherton syndrome is a severe subtype of congenital ichthyosis caused by mutations in SPINK5 encoding the lymphoepithelial kazal-type related inhibitor (LEKTI), serine protease that regulates activity kallikreins skin. Loss LEKTI leads to increased activity, resulting disrupted skin barrier and enhanced susceptibility infections. Current therapeutic options are mainly inadequate. Previously, r...

The initial comparison of the human and chimpanzee genome sequences revealed 16 genomic regions with an unusually high density of rapidly evolving genes. One such region is the whey acidic protein (WAP) four-disulfide core domain locus (or WFDC locus), which contains 14 WFDC genes organized in two subloci on human chromosome 20q13. WAP protease inhibitors have roles in innate immunity and/or th...