Abstract 1425 Membrane-anchored serine protease (MASP) regulation of protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2) signaling in ovarian cancer

Ovarian cancer (OvCa) is the most lethal gynecological cancer. Dysregulation of protease activity has been shown to play a significant role in OvCa progression. Testisin and matriptase are membrane-anchored serine proteases (MASPs) that activate protease-activated receptor-2 (PAR-2), all of which have been shown to be aberrantly upregulated in OvCa. PAR-2 is a G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) that regulates inflammation, pain and tumor progression. Testisin and matriptase are two MASPs that proteolytically cleave PAR-2 at the same canonical cleavage site, Arg36, which unmasks an endogenous tethered ligand (TL).