Human tissue Kallikrein 5 (hK5, also known as stratum corneum tryptic enzyme) is a serine protease of the human tissue Kallikrein gene family (2). The deduced amino acid sequence of human KLK5 consists of a signal peptide (Met1 to Gly22), a pro region (Val23 to Arg66) and a mature/active enzyme (Ile67 to Ser293). KLK5 is expressed mainly in skin, breast, brain and testis and to a lesser extent in many other tissues (3). KLK5 overexpression is an indicator of poor prognosis in ovarian cancer (4). hK5 is a candidate physiological activator of hK7 in the stratum corneum (5). Indeed, rhK5 can be used to activate rhK7 (R&D Systems, Catalog # 2624‑SE) by incubating rhK5 with recombinant human (rh) K7 (both at 0.1 mg/mL) in 25 mM MES, 0.15 M NaCl, pH 5.5, at 37 °C overnight.
rhK5 enzymatic activity can be inhibited by rhSerpinA1, A5, F2, and G1 (R&D Systems, Catalog # 1268‑PI, 1266‑PI, 1470-PI, 2488‑PI).