The 52K cathepsin-D of breast cancer: structure, regulation, function and clinical value.

Abstract

A major question in cancer research is: why do cancer cells continuously proliferate and invade adjacent tissue. Breast cancer cells are particularly suitable for studying this question since when they are differentiated, they contain estrogen receptors, and estrogen, specifically, triggers their growth. One approach to understanding the estrogen-induced growth stimulation in this model is to identify the estrogen-induced factors involved in the control of cell proliferation [1–6]. Here, we illustrate this approach in a study of growth regulation of MCF7 cells by estrogen, in which we found a secreted 52K protein with mitogenic activity. It was identified as a protease that is also possibly involved in the process of tumor cell metastasis.KeywordsBreast CancerBreast Cancer CellMCF7 CellProgesterone ReceptorHuman Breast Cancer CellThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.