Alpha-2-macroglobulin in inflammation, immunity and infections

Journal article

Abstract:: Alpha-2-macroglobulin is an extracellular macromolecule mainly known for its role as a broad-spectrum protease inhibitor. By presenting itself as an optimal substrate for endopeptidases of all catalytic types, alpha-2-macroglobulin lures active proteases into its molecular cage and subsequently ‘flags’ their complex for elimination. In addition to its role as a regulator of extracellular proteolysis, alpha-2-macroglobulin also has other functions such as switching proteolysis towards small substrates, facilitating cell migration and the binding of cytokines, growth factors and damaged extracellular proteins. These functions appear particularly important in the context of immune-cell function. In this review manuscript, we provide an overview of all functions of alpha-2-macroglobulin and place these in the context of inflammation, immunity and infections.

Files:: Vandooren_and_Itoh_2021_Alpha-2-macroglobulin_in_inflammation.pdf

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Language:: English
Keywords:: alpha-2-macroglobulin

FFR

macrophages

proteolysis

infections

neutrophils

immunity

inflammation
Pubs id:: 1228930
Local pid:: pubs:1228930
Deposit date:: 2022-01-04

Copyright holder:: Vandooren and Itoh.
Rights statement:: © 2021 Vandooren and Itoh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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