Effects of laser treatment on the expression of cytosolic proteins in the synovium of patients with osteoarthritis.

Background And Objective: Low level laser therapy (LLLT) has been developed for non-invasive treatment of joint diseases. We have previously shown that LLLT influenced synovial protein expression in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim of this study was to assess the effects of laser irradiation on osteoarthritic (OA) synovial protein expression.

Synaptic cell adhesion molecule-2 and collapsin response mediator protein-2 are novel members of the matrix metalloproteinase-9 degradome.

The elucidation of entire sets of protease substrates ("proteodegradomes") is important for understanding proteolytic pathways, their networks, and their role in the regulation of cell function. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) is an extracellularly operating protease that is expressed and released in the brain in response to enhanced neuronal activity. Under physiological conditions, MMP-9 is involved in neuronal plasticity, including long-term potentiation, learning, and memory.

Matrix metalloproteinase-9 activity increased by two different types of epileptic seizures that do not induce neuronal death: a possible role in homeostatic synaptic plasticity.

Matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) degrade or modify extracellular matrix or membrane-bound proteins in the brain. MMP-2 and MMP-9 are activated by treatments that result in a sustained neuronal depolarization and are thought to contribute to neuronal death and structural remodeling. At the synapse, MMP actions on extracellular proteins contribute to changes in synaptic efficacy during learning paradigms.

When the surface tells what lies beneath: combinatorial phage-display mutagenesis reveals complex networks of surface-core interactions in the pacifastin protease inhibitor family.

Pacifastin protease inhibitors are small cysteine-rich motifs of approximately 35 residues that were discovered in arthropods. The family is divided into two related groups on the basis of the composition of their minimalist inner core. In group I, the core is governed by a Lys10-Trp26 interaction, while in group II it is organized around Phe10.