Cellular invasion into local tissues is a process important in development and homeostasis.
Malregulated invasion and subsequent cell movement is characteristic of multiple
pathological processes, including inflammation, cardiovascular disease and tumor cell
metastasis1. Focalized proteolytic degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) components in
the epithelial or endothelial basement membrane is a critical step in initiating cellular
invasion. In tumor cells, extensive in vitro analysis has determined that ECM degradation is …