An update on human and mouse glandular kallikreins.

Human glandular kallikreins are secreted serine proteases, involved in many biological processes. Recently, the complete organization of the human and mouse genomic loci has been elucidated. These loci harbor the largest clusters of serine proteases within the human and mouse genomes. Mouse orthologs to all human kallikrein genes, except for KLK2 and KLK3 genes, have now been identified. Here, we describe an update of the genomic organization of these families in human and mouse, and provide some thoughts for future research directions.