Cathepsin B is an enzymatic protein that is a member of the peptidase (or protease) family. Elevated levels of cathepsin B occur in a wide variety of disease, causing numerous pathologies including cell death, inflammation, and the production of toxic peptides. For example, neuroscience research suggests that cathepsin B plays a role in inducing epilepsy resulting in a significant amount of cell death. Seizure-induced rats treated with a cathepsin B inhibitor exhibited improved neurological scores and learning ability with reduced neuronal cell death.
Recombinant Human Cathepsin B produced in CHO cells is a polypeptide chain containing 332 amino acids. A fully biologically active molecule, rhCathepsin B has a molecular mass of 43 kDa analyzed by reducing SDS-PAGE and is obtained by chromatographic techniques at GenScript.