Protease, an Advance Therapeutic Target in Cancer

Proteases are known to be associated with cancer development because of their aptitude to degrade extracellular matrices, which enables invasion and metastasis. Recent studies have demonstrated that a variety of substrates are the main target of these important enzymes and favour all steps of tumour evolution. An extensive number of reports have been available which shows a positive correlation between the activity of several proteases and tumour progression suggesting the usefulness of protease inhibitors as anticancer drugs. Nowadays, the cure for metastatic diseases is still a utopia and many efforts are focused on finding new sensitive biomarkers for a precise diagnostic as well as prognostic and therapy. In this scenario, understanding of the proteases, how they are involved in early to the end point in cancer progression is needed. In this review, we will focus on the role of proteases as prognostic and therapeutic targets in various types of cancers.