Matriptase/ST14: Proteins and Enzymes

Human matriptase, encoded by the ST14 (suppression of tumorogenicity 14) gene, is also known as tumor associated differentially expressed gene 15 protein/TADG-15), epithin, and membrane-type serine protease 1/MT-SP1. Predicted to have a significant role in tumor biology, matriptase may be a novel target for anti-cancer therapy. However, expressed in most human epithelia, matriptase is also important in several physiological processes. For example, it activates prostasin to initiate a protease cascade that is essential for epidermal differentiation, and it converts a single-chain IGFBP-rp1 into the two-chain form.