Regulation of mt1-mmp activity

摘要

It has been considered that an activation of proMMP-2 induced by MT1-MMP is one of the important steps for invasion of tumor cells such as cancers, but its detailed mechanism for an expression of activation has been unknown. Thus, it has been required that methods for preventing/treating various diseases are developed by elucidating the mechanism of activation expression of proMMP-2 induced by MT1-MMP and elucidating various actions potentially involving MT1-MMP in addition to invasion and metastasis of cancers. A formation of a complex formed of multiple MT1-MMP, particularly a homodimer formation of MT1-MMP is crucial for the activation of proMMP-2 induced by MT1-MMP, and the homodimer formation is based on functions of the PEX domain of MT1-MMP. Utilizing such findings, the homodimer formation of MT1-MMP is inhibited and the activation of proMMP-2 is inhibited leading to developing methods to control invasion/metastasis of cancers.