Heparanase is an endo-beta-d-glucuronidase which specifically cleaves extracellular and cell surface heparan sulphates at intra-chain sites. Its enzymatic activity is strongly implicated in cell dissemination associated with tumor metastasis and inflammation. Indeed, heparanase gene is expressed in various tumors and its over-expression is correlated with increased tumor vascularity and metasta...

Heparanase has been implicated in cancer but its contribution to the early stages of cancer development is uncertain. In this study, we utilized nontransformed human MCF10A mammary epithelial cells and two genetic mouse models [Hpa-transgenic (Hpa-Tg) and knockout mice] to explore heparanase function at early stages of tumor development. Heparanase overexpression resulted in significantly enlar...

Background Keratoconus has classically been defined as a noninflammatory disorder, although recent studies show elevated levels of inflammatory markers suggesting that keratoconus could be, at least in part, an inflammatory condition. Heparanase upregulation has been described in multiple inflammatory disorders. In this article, we study the differential expression of heparanase in cornea and t...

The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTECs) into myofibroblasts contributes to the establishment of fibrosis that leads to end stage renal disease. FGF-2 induces EMT in PTECs. Because the interaction between FGF-2 and its receptor is mediated by heparan sulfate (HS) and syndecans, we speculated that a deranged HS/syndecans regulation impairs FGF-2 ac...

Heparanase is an endoglycosidase that degrades heparan sulfate (HS) at the cell surface and in the extracellular matrix. Heparanase is expressed mainly by cancer cells, and its expression is correlated with increased tumor aggressiveness, metastasis, and angiogenesis. Here, we report the cloning of a unique splice variant (splice 36) of heparanase from the subterranean blind mole rat (Spalax). ...

Previous studies have indicated that heparanase (Hpa) might represent a candidate universal tumor-associated antigen. However, vaccine therapy targeting only one cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) epitope is suboptimal in preventing cancer. In the present study, we designed heparanase multi-epitope vaccines to increase the immune response to standard single heparanase epitopes. The results showed tha...

Heparanase is a heparan sulfate (HS) degrading endoglycosidase participating in extracellular matrix degradation and remodeling. Apart of its well characterized enzymatic activity, heparanase was noted to exert also enzymatic-independent functions. Non-enzymatic activities of heparanase include enhanced adhesion of tumor-derived cells and primary T-cells. Attempting to identify functional domai...

Heparanase is an endo-β-glucuronidase that specifically cleaves heparan sulfate proteoglycans in the extracellular matrix. Expression of this enzyme is increased in several pathological conditions including inflammation. We have investigated the role of heparanase in pulmonary inflammation in the context of allergic and non-allergic pulmonary cell recruitment using heparanase knockout (Hpa-/-) ...

Heparanase (HPSE1) is known to be involved in mechanisms of metastatic tumor cell migration. This enzyme selectively cleaves heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPG), which are ubiquitously expressed in mammals and are known to be involved in regulating the activity of an array of inflammatory mediators. In the present study, we have investigated the effects of human recombinant heparanase, the ina...

Heparanase (HPSE) is a potent protumorigenic, proangiogenic, and prometastatic enzyme that is overexpressed in brain metastatic breast cancer (BMBC). However, little is known about the regulation of this potential therapeutic target in BMBC, which remains very poorly managed in the clinic. We hypothesized that HPSE gene expression might be regulated by micro RNA that might be exploited therapeu...