The occurrence of matriptase C-terminal fragments on the apical and basolateral sides of Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells.

Matriptase is a type II transmembrane serine protease. In the present study, matriptase C-terminal fragments containing the catalytic serine protease domain were found to occur on the apical and basolateral sides of Madin-Darby canine kidney epithelial cells transfected with a cDNA encoding the protease. This suggests that matriptase interacts with various potential substrates when expressed in simple epithelia.