Expression of cathepsin K in chordoma.

Invasive growth of chordoma is accompanied by severe destruction of adjacent bone tissue, a fact that requires high proteolytic activity at the tumor invasion fronts. In this context, cathepsin K is a candidate molecule. It is a protease with high collagenolytic and elastinolytic activity and previously thought to be restricted to osteoclasts and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. In this study, 44 cases of chordoma of sphenooccipital localization, and 10 embryo-fetal specimens including chorda dorsalis were studied immunohistochemically for their expression of cathepsin K. In 4 additional snap-frozen chordoma cases, the enzyme expression was investigated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and enzyme histochemistry. Ten chondrosarcomas of the skull base served as controls. Various concentrations of cathepsin K mRNA could be seen in all snap-frozen chordoma specimens. The protease was immunohistochemically expressed by the tumor cells. The immunoreactions were accentuated at the tumor invasion fronts. Enzyme histochemistry indicated a strong tumor cell-associated cathepsin K activity in invasive tumor components. In contrast to chordoma, cathepsin K was not significantly expressed in chorda dorsalis and chondrosarcoma of the skull base. In chondrosarcoma, protease expression was limited to osteoclastic cells localized between infiltrative tumor components and regular bone trabeculae. This study shows the significant expression and activity of cathepsin K in chordoma and implicates an important and direct role of this protease in the infiltrative growth of this tumor. This protease expression occurred during neoplastic transformation and did not appear in chorda dorsalis.

Expression of cathepsin K in the human embryo and fetus.

Cathepsin K is a protease with high collagenolytic and elastinolytic activity. Its cellular expression was previously thought to be restricted to osteoclasts and osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. In this study, the expression of cathepsin K in the human embryo and fetus was demonstrated by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and by Northern blotting of fetal tissue extracts. Besides osteoclasts and chondroclasts and their precursors, epithelial cells of various organ systems expressed significant amounts of this enzyme. Respiratory and gastrointestinal mucosa, including bile duct epithelia and urothelia, showed high levels of cathepsin K expression. With the exception of the urothelium, showing a more homogenous expression pattern, the protease was usually accentuated in the surface cell layers of pithelia. In summary, these findings in the human embryo and early fetus demonstrated a significant expression of cathepsin K in different epithelial cell types besides osteoclasts. The functional aspects of cathepsin K expression in nonosteoclastic cells and potential conclusions on physiological and pathological conditions in the embryo-fetal or adult organism remain to be investigated. Dev Dyn 1999;216:89-95.

Primary structure of bovine cathepsin S. Comparison to cathepsins L, H, B and papain.

The primary structure of bovine cathepsin S was determined by combining results of protein and peptide sequencing with the sequence deduced from nucleic acid sequencing. Using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology, cDNA clones commencing at amino acid 22 of the mature enzyme and continuing through the 3' untranslated region of bovine cathepsin S mRNA were isolated and sequenced. The open reading frame in these overlapping clones correctly predicts the determined amino acid sequence of 13 tryptic peptides derived from purified bovine spleen cathepsin S. The deduced amino acid sequence shows that mature bovine cathepsin S consists of 217 amino acids corresponding to a molecular weight of 23.7 kDa. Cathepsin S belongs to the papain superfamily of lysosomal cysteine proteinases and shares 41% identity with papain. Amino acid sequence identities of bovine cathepsin S to human cathepsins L, H, and B are 56%, 47% and 31% respectively.