Skip to main content

Protease-Activated Receptors

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Cancer
  • 68 Accesses

Synonyms

PAR1; Thrombin receptor

Definition

Protease-activated receptors (PARs) form a family of seven transmembrane G-protein-coupled receptors consisting of four gene members. PAR1, PAR3, and PAR4 respond to the serine protease thrombin, while PAR2 is activated by trypsin, tryptase, and the coagulation factors, VIIa and Xa, but not by thrombin. All members are uniquely activated via proteolytic cleavage that exposes an otherwise hindered ligand at their N-terminus extracellular portion. PARs can be viewed as receptors that carry their own ligands. In addition to thrombin, PARs convey cellular responses to a wide spectrum of serine proteases as also the matrix metalloprotease 1, MMP1. PARs1–4 are similarly organized, all encoded by two exons and separated by an intron of variable size. Exon 1 encodes a signal peptide, and exon 2 encodes the mature receptor protein. In humans, PARs1–3 are localized on chromosome 5q13.

Characteristics

Protease-activated receptors (PARs) belong to the...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Coughlin SR (2000) Thrombin signaling and protease-activated receptors. Nature 407:258–264

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Even-Ram S, Uziely S, Cohen P et al (1998) Thrombin receptor overexpression in malignant and physiological invasion processes. Nat Med 4(8):909–914

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nystedt S, Emilsson K, Wahlestedt C, Sundelin J (1994) Molecular cloning of a potential proteinase activated receptor. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 91(20):9208–92012

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen UB, Vouret-Craviari V, Jallat S et al (1991) cDNA cloning and expression of a hamster alpha-thrombin receptor coupled to Ca2+ mobilization. FEBS Lett 288(1–2):123–128

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yin YJ, Katz V, Salah Z et al (2006) Mammary gland tissue targeted overexpression of human protease-activated receptor 1 reveals a novel link to beta-catenin stabilization. Cancer Res 66(10):5224–5233

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bar-Shavit Rachel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this entry

Cite this entry

Rachel, BS. (2015). Protease-Activated Receptors. In: Schwab, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cancer. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_4784-2

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27841-9_4784-2

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27841-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics