Purification and cloning of aggrecanase-1: a member of the ADAMTS family of proteins.
Tortorella M.D., Burn T.C., Pratta M.A., Abbaszade I., Hollis J.M., Liu R.-Q., Rosenfeld S.A., Copeland R.A., Decicco C.P., Wynn R., Rockwell A., Yang F., Duke J.L., Solomon K., George H., Bruckner R., Nagase H., Itoh Y., Ellis D.M., Ross H., Wiswall B.H., Murphy K., Hillman M.C. Jr., Hollis G.F., Newton R.C., Magolda R.L., Trzaskos J.M., Arner E.C.
We purified, cloned, and expressed aggrecanase, a protease that is thought to be responsible for the degradation of cartilage aggrecan in arthritic diseases. Aggrecanase-1 [a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs-4 (ADAMTS-4)] is a member of the ADAMTS protein family that cleaves aggrecan at the glutamic acid-373-alanine-374 bond. The identification of this protease provides a specific target for the development of therapeutics to prevent cartilage degradation in arthritis.
