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Serine Proteases and Reproduction
Shang Xuan, Shen Chunling, Wang Zhugang*
Research Center for Experimental Medicine, Shanghai Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China
Abstract: Serine proteases are enzymes that cleave peptide bonds in proteins， in which serine serves as the nucleophilic amino acid at the enzyme’s active site. They are responsible for vital processes in mammals such as digestion， blood coagulation， apoptosis and immunity. In recent years， new developments from the function investigation of a number of serine protease have found that they have a high frequency of occurrence in unexplained infertile patients and gene-disrupted mice (ACR–/–， PCSK4–/–， PRSS21–/–， PRSS37–/–， PCI–/–， SPINKL3–/–). Therefore，on the basis of a brief overview of the characteristics of serine protease， we pay more attention to its role in reproduction in this review.
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