A collagenase is an enzyme that can cut intact collagen, the tightly wound protein that gives tissues their strength. Humans have three main collagenases: MMP-1, MMP-8 and MMP-13.
Also called collagen-cutting enzyme.
Collagen is a triple helix of three protein strands, and few enzymes can cut it while it is intact. The collagenases cleave it at one point to leave a three-quarter and a one-quarter fragment (Mitchell 1996).
The three human collagenases are the fibroblast collagenase (MMP-1), the neutrophil collagenase (MMP-8) and collagenase-3 (MMP-13) (Freije 1994; Knäuper 1996; Roy 2025). They share structural features that set them apart from other MMPs (Freije 1994). They differ in what they prefer. MMP13 favours type II collagen, the cartilage kind, and also breaks down gelatin, which MMP-1 and MMP-8 do not do efficiently (Knäuper 1996).
In healthy ankle cartilage all four collagenases the researchers measured were present and didn't change with age (Aurich 2002). In damaged cartilage, MMP13 is described as the major collagenase (Li 2011).
Both are collagenases, enzymes that can cut intact collagen, and they cut type II collagen at the same bond. MMP13 is much faster at it: at least ten times faster than...
MMP13, short for matrix metalloproteinase-13 and also called collagenase-3, is an enzyme that cuts collagen. Cartilage cells make it, and of the collagen-cutting enzymes...
Yes. Besides type II collagen, MMP13 cuts aggrecan, the water-holding molecule in cartilage, at two sites, one of them not seen with other enzymes. Purified MMP13 also...