Tags: Protein.
Cathepsins (Ancient Greek kata- down and hepsein boil; abbreviated CTS) are proteases (enzymes that degrades proteins) found in all animals as well as other organisms. There are approximately a dozen members of this family which are distinguished by their structure catalytic mechanism and which proteins they cleave. Most of the members become activated at the low pH found in lysosomes. Thus the activity of this family lies almost entirely within those organelles.
