Prostasin is a glycophosphatidylinositol-anchored
protein which is found in prostate gland, kidney, bronchi, colon, liver, lung, pancreas, and salivary glands. It is a
serine protease with
trypsin-like substrate specificity which was first purified from seminal fluid in 1994. In the last decade, its diverse roles in various
biological and physiological processes have been elucidated. Many studies done to date suggest that
prostasin is one of several membrane
peptidases regulating
epithelial sodium channels in mammals. A comprehensive literature search was conducted from the websites of Pubmed Central, the US National Library of Medicine's digital archive of life sciences literature and the National Library of Medicine. The data was also assessed from journals and books that published relevant articles in this field. Understanding the mechanism by which
prostasin and its inhibitors regulate
sodium channels has provided a new insight into the treatment of
hypertension and some other diseases like
cystic fibrosis.
Prostasin plays an important role in
epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signal modulation. Extracellular
proteases have been implicated in
tumor metastasis and local tissue invasion because of their ability to degrade extracellular matrices.