Extracellular Proteases and the Cancer Degradome

The European Cancer Proteases Consortium (EUCPC) proposes multidisciplinary research into innovative approaches for cancer therapy and diagnosis based on the DEGRADOME - the complete repertoire of extracellular proteases through which cells regulate their local environment. Extracellular proteases remain an attractive target for intervention against cancer, even if first generation anti-protease drugs were disappointing in clinical trials. We now appreciate that proteases have much more complex roles with distinct functions at different stages of tumour development and progression, and may have conflicting effects on malignancy. We now propose to put these recent insights into pre-clinical and clinical settings.