H. Kirschke et al., CONCENTRATIONS OF LYSOSOMAL CYSTEINE PROTEASES ARE DECREASED IN RENAL-CELL CARCINOMA COMPARED WITH NORMAL KIDNEY, Journal of cancer research and clinical oncology, 123(7), 1997, pp. 402-406
Renal cell carcinoma contains significantly lower concentrations of th
e lysosomal cysteine proteases, cathepsins B, C, H, L and S, than does
normal kidney, as shown by several methods, such as activity determin
ation, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunoblotting and immunohis
tochemistry. The same low levels of enzyme activity and concentration
have been determined in renal cell carcinoma metastases in the lung. O
ur results on the decreased concentration of cysteine peptidases at th
e protein level would seem to conflict with earlier results on an incr
eased concentration of the cathepsin L mRNA in renal cell carcinoma.