From 1 Sekiguchi Biomatrix Signaling Project, Exploratory Research for Advanced Technology, Japan Science and Technology Agency, c/o Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Aichi 480-1195, Japan and 2 Institute for Protein Research, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka 565-0871, Japan and 3 Shriners Hospital for Children and 4 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Oregon Health & Science Univ...

The importance of proteases as mediators of extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation and vascular cell phenotype in the pathogenesis of vascular disease is indisputable. In fact, excellent cases can be made for the matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) (see review1), the serine proteases (see review2), and the cysteine and aspartic proteases (see review3) being involved in many of the events in vascul...

Background Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory joint disease. It can result in severe destruction and cardiac or pulmonary involvement. So far, no specific autoantibodies have been identified that would simplify the diagnosis of PsA. HLA-B27 positivity only detectable 20% PsA patients. still takes several years until established, which crucial for treatment. In addition, disease...

Here we report on the identification and functional characterization of the ADAMTS-like homolog lonely heart (loh) in Drosophila melanogaster. Loh displays all hallmarks of ADAMTSL proteins including several thrombospondin type 1 repeats (TSR1), and acts in concert with the collagen Pericardin (Prc). Loss of either loh or prc causes progressive cardiac damage peaking in the abolishment of heart...

Purpose The zonule of Zinn (ciliary zonule) is a system of fibers that centers the crystalline lens on the optical axis of the eye. Mutations in zonule components underlie syndromic conditions associated with a broad range of ocular pathologies, including microspherophakia and ectopia lentis. Here, we used HPLC-mass spectrometry to determine the molecular composition of the zonule. Methods Tr...

The ADAMTSs (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs) are a group of proteases that are found both in mammals and invertebrates. Since the prototype ADAMTS-1 was first described in 1997, there has been a rapidly expanding body of literature describing this gene family and the proteins they encode. The complete human family has 19 ADAMTS genes, together with three members ...