HtrA serine proteases in cancers: A target of interest for cancer therapy

• Published in: Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy 2021-07, Vol.139, p.111603-111603, Article 111603
• Main Authors: Wu, Liangliang, Li, Xiao, Li, Zhitao, Cheng, Ye, Wu, Fan, Lv, Chengyu, Zhang, Wenling, Tang, Weiwei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cancers; HtrA1; HtrA2; HtrA3; HtrA4
• ISSN: 0753-3322; 1950-6007
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.111603

The HtrA protein family is composed by evolutionally-conserved serine proteases, which are homologous to the HtrA protein of the model bacterium Escherichia coli. They are widely distributed in organisms including humans, prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Moreover, HtrA family proteins are important regulators of a variety of human physiological processes, which contains the maintenance of mitochondrial homeostasis, cellular signal transduction and apoptosis regulation. The HtrA family has been found to be associated with cancer and could be used as a target for future cancer treatments. The purpose of this article is to review the relationship between these HtrA and cancer and to summarize the latest researches on HtrA and cancer. •HtrA serine proteases are associated with the pathological processes of cancers.•HtrA1 and HtrA2 play a dual role in cancers, they can either mediate cellular survival or contribute to cell death.•HtrA3 has been considered as a tumor suppressor and involved in negative regulation of TGFβ1 signal pathway.•HtrA4 shows an inhibitory effect on cancers by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis.