Cathepsin C appears to be a central coordinator for activation of many serine proteases in immune/inflammatory cells.
Cathepsin C catalyses excision of dipeptides from the N-terminus of protein and peptide substrates, except if (i) the amino group of the N-terminus is blocked, (ii) the site of cleavage is on either side of a proline residue, (iii) the N-terminal residue is lysine or arginine, or (iv) the structure of the peptide or protein prevents further digestion from the N-terminus.
Structure
The cDNAs encoding rat, human, murine, bovine, dog and two Schistosome cathepsin Cs have been cloned and sequenced and show that the enzyme is highly conserved.[7] The human and rat cathepsin C cDNAs encode precursors (prepro-cathepsin C) comprising signal peptides of 24 residues, pro-regions of 205 (rat cathepsin C) or 206 (human cathepsin C) residues and catalytic domains of 233 residues which contain the catalytic residues and are 30-40% identical to the mature amino acid sequences of papain and a number of other cathepsins including cathepsins, B, H, K, L, and S.[8]
The translated prepro-cathepsin C is processed into the mature form by at least four cleavages of the polypeptide chain. The signal peptide is removed during translocation or secretion of the pro-enzyme (pro-cathepsin C) and a large N-terminal proregion fragment (also known as the exclusion domain),[9] which is retained in the mature enzyme, is separated from the catalytic domain by excision of a minor C-terminal part of the pro-region, called the activation peptide. A heavy chain of about 164 residues and a light chain of about 69 residues are generated by cleavage of the catalytic domain.
Unlike the other members of the papain family, mature cathepsin C consists of four subunits, each composed of the N-terminal proregion fragment, the heavy chain and the light chain. Both the pro-region fragment and the heavy chain are glycosylated.
Cathepsin C functions as a key enzyme in the activation of granule serine peptidases in inflammatory cells, such as elastase and cathepsin G in neutrophils cells and chymase and tryptase in mast cells. In many inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), inflammatory bowel disease, asthma, sepsis, and cystic fibrosis, a significant portion of the pathogenesis is caused by increased activity of some of these inflammatory proteases. Once activated by cathepsin C, the proteases are capable of degrading various extracellular matrix components, which can lead to tissue damage and chronic inflammation.
^Kominami E, Ishido K, Muno D, Sato N (Jul 1992). "The primary structure and tissue distribution of cathepsin C". Biological Chemistry Hoppe-Seyler. 373 (7): 367–73. doi:10.1515/bchm3.1992.373.2.367. PMID1515062.
^Wani AA, Devkar N, Patole MS, Shouche YS (Feb 2006). "Description of two new cathepsin C gene mutations in patients with Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome". Journal of Periodontology. 77 (2): 233–7. doi:10.1902/jop.2006.050124. PMID16460249.
McGuire MJ, Lipsky PE, Thiele DL (Jun 1992). "Purification and characterization of dipeptidyl peptidase I from human spleen". Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics. 295 (2): 280–8. doi:10.1016/0003-9861(92)90519-3. PMID1586157.
Maruyama K, Sugano S (Jan 1994). "Oligo-capping: a simple method to replace the cap structure of eukaryotic mRNAs with oligoribonucleotides". Gene. 138 (1–2): 171–4. doi:10.1016/0378-1119(94)90802-8. PMID8125298.
Fischer J, Blanchet-Bardon C, Prud'homme JF, Pavek S, Steijlen PM, Dubertret L, Weissenbach J (1997). "Mapping of Papillon-Lefevre syndrome to the chromosome 11q14 region". European Journal of Human Genetics. 5 (3): 156–60. doi:10.1159/000484751. hdl:2066/24363. PMID9272739.
Suzuki Y, Yoshitomo-Nakagawa K, Maruyama K, Suyama A, Sugano S (Oct 1997). "Construction and characterization of a full length-enriched and a 5'-end-enriched cDNA library". Gene. 200 (1–2): 149–56. doi:10.1016/S0378-1119(97)00411-3. PMID9373149.
Cigić B, Krizaj I, Kralj B, Turk V, Pain RH (Jan 1998). "Stoichiometry and heterogeneity of the pro-region chain in tetrameric human cathepsin C". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Protein Structure and Molecular Enzymology. 1382 (1): 143–50. doi:10.1016/S0167-4838(97)00173-8. PMID9507095.
Suzuki Y, Ishihara D, Sasaki M, Nakagawa H, Hata H, Tsunoda T, Watanabe M, Komatsu T, Ota T, Isogai T, Suyama A, Sugano S (Mar 2000). "Statistical analysis of the 5' untranslated region of human mRNA using "Oligo-Capped" cDNA libraries". Genomics. 64 (3): 286–97. doi:10.1006/geno.2000.6076. PMID10756096.
Cigić B, Dahl SW, Pain RH (Oct 2000). "The residual pro-part of cathepsin C fulfills the criteria required for an intramolecular chaperone in folding and stabilizing the human proenzyme". Biochemistry. 39 (40): 12382–90. doi:10.1021/bi0008837. PMID11015218.
Allende LM, García-Pérez MA, Moreno A, Corell A, Carasol M, Martínez-Canut P, Arnaiz-Villena A (Feb 2001). "Cathepsin C gene: First compound heterozygous patient with Papillon-Lefèvre syndrome and a novel symptomless mutation". Human Mutation. 17 (2): 152–3. doi:10.1002/1098-1004(200102)17:2<152::AID-HUMU10>3.0.CO;2-#. PMID11180601. S2CID196603893.
1k3b: Crystal Structure of Human Dipeptidyl Peptidase I (Cathepsin C): Exclusion Domain Added to an Endopeptidase Framework Creates the Machine for Activation of Granular Serine Proteases
2djf: Crystal Structure of human dipeptidyl peptidase I (Cathepsin C) in complex with the inhibitor Gly-Phe-CHN2
2djg: Re-determination of the native structure of human dipeptidyl peptidase I (cathepsin C)