Scientists at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) and colleagues report in animal studies that a single, scissor-like enzyme called matriptase, when left to its own devices, can cause cancer.
This finding, published in the current issue of the journal Genes and Development, marks the first report of a protein-cleaving enzyme, or protease, on the cell surface that can efficiently trigger the formation of tumor cells.
The authors also note that matriptase is the first known cell-surface protease that can act as an oncogene, an umbrella term for mutated genes and their proteins that prompt cells to divide too rapidly, a hallmark of tumor cells.