Cysteine cathepsins are involved in degradation of extracellular matrix, facilitating growth, invasion, and metastasis of tumor cells, in tumor angiogenesis, in apoptosis, and in events of inflammatory and immune responses. In this issue of Cancer Cell, demonstrate association of increased cathepsins activity with angiogenic vasculature and invasive fronts of carcinomas during tumorigenesis in transgenic mouse models using activity-based chemical probes and in vivo imaging. Moreover, this study shows that a broad-spectrum cysteine cathepsin inhibitor effectively blocks several stages of tumorigenesis in the RIP1-Tag2 transgenic mouse model, offering new therapeutic opportunities in cancer treatment.

中文翻译：

---

半胱氨酸组织蛋白酶（蛋白酶）-在癌症的主要阶段？

半胱氨酸组织蛋白酶参与细胞外基质的降解，促进肿瘤细胞的生长，侵袭和转移，肿瘤血管生成，细胞凋亡以及炎症和免疫反应。在本期《癌细胞》中，使用基于活动的化学探针和体内成像，证明在转基因小鼠模型中，组织蛋白酶活性与肿瘤发生期间血管生成的脉管系统和癌浸润前线的相关性。此外，这项研究表明，广谱半胱氨酸组织蛋白酶抑制剂有效地阻断了RIP1-Tag2转基因小鼠模型中肿瘤发生的多个阶段，为癌症治疗提供了新的治疗机会。