Cross-linking of extracellular matrix proteins contributes to connective tissue stability. In a collaborative study, published in Matrix Biology, a novel link between ADAMTS-like proteins and the cross-linking enzyme lysyl oxidase (LOX) was revealed. The results suggest that LOX-mediated cross-linking of ADAMTS-like 2 contributes to the formation of large homo- or heterotypic protein complexes in the extracellular matrix in vitro and in vivo. The exact nature and function of these protein complexes will be addressed in future investigations.
“Nature is nowhere accustomed more openly to display her secret mysteries than in cases where she shows traces of her workings apart from the beaten path; nor is there any better way to advance the proper practice of medicine than to give our minds to the discovery of the usual law of nature by the careful investigation of cases of rarer forms of disease. For it has been found in almost all things, that what they contain of useful or of applicable nature, is hardly perceived unless we are deprived of them, or they become deranged in some way.”
-William Harvey (Physician-Scientist), 1578-1657