cathepsin
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English
Etymology
Borrowed from German Kathepsin, from Ancient Greek καθέψω (kathépsō), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἕψω (hépsō, “boil”).
Pronunciation
Noun
cathepsin (plural cathepsins)
- (biochemistry) Any of a family of proteases primarily active within lysosomes.
- 1931, A Pirie, BE Holmes, “The cause of inactivation of the Rous sarcoma filtrate during incubation”, in British journal of experimental pathology:
- Grassmann and Dyckerhoff (1930) showed that cysteine and cyanide inhibited the action of ereptic aminopolyase, while they accelerated the action of proteases such as cathepsin.
Derived terms
References
- “cathepsin”, in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th edition, Boston, Mass.: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016, →ISBN.