Cysteine Protease Cathepsins in Atherosclerosis and Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm.
Sara SjöbergGuo-Ping ShiPublished in: Clinical reviews in bone and mineral metabolism (2011)
Extracellular matrix remodeling is an important mechanism in the initiation and progression of cardiovascular diseases. Cysteine protease cathepsins are among the important proteases that affect major events in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm, including smooth muscle cell transmigration through elastic lamina, macrophage foam cell formation, vascular cell and macrophage apoptosis, and plaque rupture. These events have been studied in cathepsin deficiencies and cathepsin inhibitor deficiencies in mice and have provided invaluable insights regarding the roles of cathepsins in cardiovascular diseases. Pharmacological inhibitions for cathepsins are under evaluation for other human diseases and may be used as clinical treatments for cardiovascular diseases in the near future. This article reviews different mechanisms for cathepsins in atherosclerosis and abdominal aortic aneurysm that could be targeted by selective cathepsin inhibitors.
Keyphrases
- abdominal aortic aneurysm
- cardiovascular disease
- extracellular matrix
- smooth muscle
- single cell
- cell therapy
- adipose tissue
- coronary artery disease
- randomized controlled trial
- stem cells
- cell death
- systematic review
- drug delivery
- cancer therapy
- cardiovascular events
- bone marrow
- living cells
- cell cycle arrest
- clinical evaluation
- insulin resistance
- meta analyses