Membrane proteases as potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for breast malignancy

Metastasizing cancer cells can invade the extracellular matrix using plasma membrane protrusions, termed invadopodia, that contact and dissolve the matrix. Various membrane associated proteases localized on the invadopodial membranes are responsible for the extracellular matrix degradation. Work from our laboratory shows that secreted proteases including Gelatinase A, and high molecular weight integral membrane proteases are associated with cell surface invadopodia. Three cell types, including chicken embryonic cells transformed by Rous sarcoma virus, human malignant melanoma cell line LOX, and human breast carcinoma cell line MDA-MB-231, retain the invasive phenotype in vitro, express invadopodia, degrade and enter into a fibronectin-rich collagenous matrix. We suggest that invadopodium-associated proteases are ideal targets for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer as their presence in association with primary tumors may signal increased metastatic potential. An approach toward the development of new prognostic markers for breast malignancy involved production of monoclonal antibodies directed against membrane proteases in a mixture of glycoproteins. Double immunofluorescent technique using a known invadopodium marker is designed to select specific monoclonal antibodies colocalizing at the invasion front, on invadopodia of cancer cells. Membrane protease accessibility at the cell surface can therefore be exploited for therapeutic advances by the development of specific antibodies and inhibitors that block their activities, and by the use of monoclonal antibodies to target cytotoxic molecules to micrometastases. Also, this same accessibility may potentially be used to detect surface proteases on micrometastases or to detect components shed by micrometastases in serum.