Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-2 prevents shedding of matriptase.

Hepatocyte growth factor activator inhibitor-2 (HAI-2) is an inhibitor of many proteases in vitro, including the membrane-bound serine protease, matriptase. Studies of knock-out mice have shown that HAI-2 is essential for placental development only in mice expressing matriptase, suggesting that HAI-2 is important for regulation of matriptase. Previous studies have shown that recombinant expression of matriptase was unsuccessful unless co-expressed with another HAI, HAI-1.