The cystein protease legumain function and importance in metastases
The protease has therefore been suggested utilized for pro-drug activation ensuring tumor-targeted delivery of chemotherapeutic drugs. Furthermore, the activation of legumain and cysteine cathepsins has been reported to be mutually dependent. The potential use of legumain as pro-drug activator or in other diagnostic or therapeutic interventions require elucidation of the exact physiological and patophysiological roles and detailed understanding of how the activity of these proteases are regulated in intact cells and organisms.
This project is supposed to reveal novel knowledge localization, trafficking and on mechanisms activating the proteases and thereby unravel how the cysteine cathepsins and legumain may be utilized for diagnostic and/or therapeutic purposes. It is of particular interest to follow up our novel finding of nuclear localized legumain in colorectal cancer patients, and explore its biological function in the nucleus. This could have implication in transcriptional or epigenetic regulation may represent novel therapeutic targets. The project is run in close collaboration with Prof. K. Brix at Jacobs University Bremen and Profs. H.T. Johansen and R. Solberg at School of Pharmacy, University of Oslo.