Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by an accumulation of toxic amyloid beta- (Aβ-)peptides in the brain causing progressive neuronal death. Aβ-peptides are produced by aspartyl proteinase-mediated cleavage of the larger amyloid precursor protein (APP). In contrast to this detrimental "amyloidogenic" form of proteolysis, a range of zinc metalloproteinases can proc...

The ability of normal rabbit dermal fibroblasts to degrade films of type IV collagen and gelatin when stimulated by phorbol ester was shown to be dependent on the induction, secretion and activation of 95 kDa gelatinase B and the secretion and activation of 72 kDa gelatinase A and stromelysin. Degradation was inhibited by exogenous human recombinant tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1, spe...

The hemorrhagic toxin Ht-d from venom of the Western diamondback rattlesnake is a metalloproteinase with a molecular weight of 23,234. Peptides were obtained from enzymatic and chemical digestions, separated by reverse-phase chromatography, and sequenced in a gas-phase sequenator. The sequence showed a putative zinc binding site similar to that of thermolysin and other metalloproteinases but no...

Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs), the endogenous inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases, have been shown to possess biological functions that are independent of their ability to inhibit matrix metalloproteinases. We have previously shown that the C-terminal domain of TIMP-2 and, in particular, Loop 6 inhibit capillary endothelial cell proliferation and angiogenesis both in vitro...

Catania JM, Chen G, Parrish AR. Role of matrix metalloproteinases in renal pathophysiologies. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 292: F905–F911, 2007. First published December 26, 2006; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00421.2006.—Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a large family of proteinases that remodel extracellular matrix (ECM) components and cleave a number of cell surface proteins. MMP activity is regula...

Procollagen C-proteinase enhancer (PCOLCE) proteins are extracellular matrix proteins that enhance the activities of procollagen C-proteinases by binding to the C-propeptide of procollagen I. PCOLCE proteins are built of three structural modules, consisting of two CUB domains followed by a C-terminal netrin-like (NTR) domain. While the enhancement of proteinase activity can be ascribed solely t...

Metalloproteinases are abundant enzymes in crotaline and viperine snake venoms. They are relevant in the pathophysiology of envenomation, being responsible for local and systemic hemorrhage frequently observed in the victims. Snake venom metalloproteinases (SVMP) are zinc-dependent enzymes of varying molecular weights having multidomain organization. Some SVMP comprise only the proteinase domai...