The cysteine protease legumain (asparaginyl endopeptidase, AEP) plays important roles in normal physiology but is also associated with several disorders, such as atherosclerosis, osteoporosis, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. The functional roles of legumain have mainly been associated with the presence in lysosomes where legumain is active and mediates processing of multiple proteins, such as the conversion of single to double chain forms of cysteine cathepsins. However, in recent years, a number of studies point to extracellular roles of legumain in addition to the pivotal roles in the lysosomes. In this review, recent knowledge on novel extracellular functions of this protease will be addressed and new discoveries in relation to the diseases mentioned above will be presented.

中文翻译：

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哺乳动物legumain-具有细胞外功能的溶酶体半胱氨酸蛋白酶吗？

半胱氨酸蛋白酶legumain（天冬酰胺基内肽酶，AEP）在正常生理中起重要作用，但也与多种疾病有关，例如动脉粥样硬化，骨质疏松，癌症和神经退行性疾病。豆荚菌素的功能作用主要与豆荚菌活跃的溶酶体有关，并介导多种蛋白质的加工，例如半胱氨酸组织蛋白酶的单链至双链形式的转化。然而，近年来，除了溶酶体中的关键作用外，许多研究还指出豆蔻因的细胞外作用。在这篇综述中，将解决关于该蛋白酶的新型细胞外功能的最新知识，并将提出与上述疾病有关的新发现。