| Prof. Janko Kos is involved in basic and translational studies of proteolytic enzymes and their inhibitors. He has been studying their role in processes leading to development and progression of cancer, immune disorders and neurodegenerative diseases. His translational research was focused on the development of new diagnostics for application in oncology and in screening, design and evaluation of various types of protease inhibitors to be used in therapy. In recent years he is developing nanoscale drug delivery systems for active targeting of tumor cells.
Scientific papers and book chapters: 320
Papers in journals with SCI: 285
Patents and patent applications: 10
Citations: >10.000 (WoS, >17.000 (Google Schoolar)
h-index: 60 (WoS), 76 (Google Scholar)
Invited lectures 75
Honours and Awards:
- 1993 - Royal Society short term fellowship, London
- 1998 - Award for scientific achievement, International Journal of Oncology, Athens
- 2000 – Research Award, Community of Novo mesto, Slovenia
- 2002 - Zois amendment for important scientific achievements, Republic of Slovenia
- 2009 - Lapanje award for research work, Slovenian Biochemical Society
- 2009 – The award “The supervisor of the year”, Slovenian Young Researcher Society
- 2013 – Zois award for outstanding achievements in science in the field of Proteolysis, Republic of Slovenia- the highest scientific award in the Republic of Slovenia
- 2015 – European Academy of Sciences and Arts - member
- 2021 - Lifetime Achievement Award, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Pharmacy
- 2022 - Lapanje Plaquette, Slovenian Biochemical Society
Selected publications (30 from 300 scientific papers and book chapters):
BODE, W., ENGH, R. A., MUSIL, D., THIELE, U., HUBER, R., KARSHIKOV, A., BRZIN, J, KOS, J. and TURK, V. (1988):The 2.0 A X-ray crystal structure of chicken egg white cystatin and its possible mode of interaction with cysteine proteinases. EMBO J.. 7, 2593-2599.
KOS, J., ŠTABUC, B., SCHWEIGER, A., KRAŠOVEC, M., CIMERMAN, N., KOPITAR-JERALA, N., VRHOVEC, I. (1997) Cathepsin B, H, and L and their inhibitors stefin A and cystatin C in sera of melanoma patients. Clin. Cancer Res.. 3, 1815-1822.
FOEKENS, J.A., KOS, J., PETERS, H.A., KRAŠOVEC, M., LOOK, M.P., CIMERMAN, N., MEIJER-VAN GELDER, M.E., HENZEN-LOGMANS, S.C., VAN PUTTEN, W.L.J., KLIJN, J. G.M. (1998): Prognostic significance of cathepsins B and L in primary human breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 16, 1013-1021.
KOS, J. and LAH T.T.(1998): Cysteine proteinases and their endogenous inhibitors : target proteins for prognosis, diagnosis and therapy in cancer (Review). Oncol. Rep. 5, 1349-1361.
KOS, J., ŠTABUC, B., CIMERMAN, N., BRÜNNER, N.(1998): Serum cystatin C, a new marker of glomerular filtration rate, is increased during malignant progression. Clin. Chem. 44, 2556-2557.
KOS, J., NIELSEN, H-J, KRAŠOVEC, M, CHRISTENSEN, IJ, CIMERMAN, N, STEPHENS, R W., BRÜNNER, N. (1998) Prognostic values of cathepsin B and carcinoembryonic antigen in sera of patients with colorectal cancer. Clin Cancer Res, 4, 1511-1516.
KOS, J., KRAŠOVEC, M., CIMERMAN, N., NIELSEN, H.-J., CHRISTENSEN, I.J., BRÜNNER, N. (2000): Cysteine proteinase inhibitors stefin A, stefin B, and cystatin C in sera from patients with colorectal cancer : relation to prognosis. Clin. Cancer Res. 6, 505-511.
KOS, J, SEKIRNIK, A., KOPITAR, G., CIMERMAN, N., KAYSER, K., STREMMER, A., FIEHN, W., WERLE, B (2001). Cathepsin S in tumours, regional lymph nodes and sera of patients with lung cancer : relation to prognosis. Br. J. Cancer 85, 8, 1193-1200
TURK, V., KOS, J., TURK, B. (2004) Cysteine cathepsins (proteases) - on the main stage of cancer?. Cancer Cell 5, 409-410.
ZAVAŠNIK-BERGANT, T., REPNIK, U., SCHWEIGER, A., ROMIH, R., JERAS, M., TURK, V., KOS, J. (2005) Differentiation- and maturation-dependent content, localization, and secretion of cystatin C in human dendritic cells. J.Leukoc. Biol., 78, 122-134.
STROJAN, P, ANIČIN, A, SVETIC, B, POHAR, M, ŠMID, A, KOS, J. (2007) Stefin a and stefin B : markers for prognosis in operable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. (2007) Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. 68, 1335-1341.
KOCBEK, P., OBERMAJER, N., CEGNAR, M., KOS, J., KRISTL, J.. (2007) Targeting cancer cells using PLGA nanoparticles surface modified with monoclonal antibody. J. Control.Rrelease, 1-2, 120, 18-26.
JEVNIKAR, Z., OBERMAJER, N., BOGYO, M., KOS, J. (2008) The role of Cathepsin X in the aggregation, Migration and invasiveness of T lymphocytes. J. Cell Science, 121, str. 2652-2661.
OBERMAJER, N., JEVNIKAR, Z., DOLJAK, B., SADAGHIANI, A. M., BOGYO, M., KOS, J. (2009). Cathepsin X-mediated ß2 integrin activation results in nanotube outgrowth. Cell Mol Life Sci 66, 1126-1132.
JEVNIKAR, Z., OBERMAJER, N., PEČAR FONOVIĆ, U., KARAOGLANOVIC-CARMONA, A., KOS, J.(2009). Cathepsin X cleaves the ß2 cytoplasmic tail of LFA-1 inducing the intermediate affinity form of LFA-1 and [alpha]-actinin-1 binding. Eur J Immunol, 2009, 39, 3217-3227.
COLIN, C., VOUTSINOS-PORCHE, B., NANNI, I., FINA, F., METELLUS, P., INTAGLIATA, D., BAEZA, N., BOUVIER, C., DELFINO, C., LOUNDOU, A., CHINOT, O., LAH TURNŠEK, T., KOS, J., MARTIN, P.M, OUAFIK, L'H., FIGARELLA-BRANGER, D. (2009) High expression of cathepsin B and plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 are strong predictors of survival in glioblastomas. Acta Neuropathologica 118, 745-754.
TAVANO, R., SEGAT, D., REDDI, E., KOS, J., ROJNIK, M., KOCBEK, P., IRATNI, S., SCHEGLMANN, D., COLUCCI, M., RIO ECHEVARRIA, I.M., SELVESTREL, F., MANCIN, F., PAPINI, E. (2010). Procoagulant properties of bare and highly PEGylated vinyl-modified silica nanoparticles. Nanomedicine, 5, 6, 881-896.
OBERMAJER, N., DOLJAK, B, POHLEVEN, J., KOS, J. (2010). A dodecapeptide deduced from cytokeratin sequence strongly enhances uPA/tPA-mediated plasminogen activation. Br. J. Haematol. 150, 121-124.
JEVNIKAR, Z., OBERMAJER, N., DOLJAK, B., TURK, S., GOBEC, S., ŠVAJGER, U., HAILFINGER, S., THOME, M., KOS, J.. (2011). Cathepsin X cleavage of the ß2 integrin regulates talin-binding and LFA-1 affinity in T cells. J. Leukocyte Biol. 90, 1, 99-109.
ROJNIK, M., KOCBEK, P., MORET, F., COMPAGNIN, C., CELOTTI, L., BOVIS, M., WOODHAMS, J., MACROBERT, A. J., SCHEGLMANN, D., HELFRICH, W., VERKAIK, M., PAPINI, E., REDDI, E., KOS, J. (2012). In vitro and in vivo characterization of temoporfin-loaded PEGlytated PLGA nanoparticles for use in photodynamic therapy. Nanomedicine (Lond., Print), 2012, vol. 7, no. 5, str. 663-677.
JEVNIKAR, Z, MIRKOVIĆ, B., PEČAR FONOVIĆ, U., ZIDAR, N., ŠVAJGER, U., KOS, J. (2012). Three-dimensional invasion of macrophages is mediated by cysteine cathepsins in protrusive podosomes. Eur. J. Immunol. 42, 12, 3429-3441.
ERJAVEC, J., KOS, J., RAVNIKAR, M., DREO, T., SABOTIČ, J. (2012). Proteins of higher fungi - from forest to application. Trends Biotechnol. 30, 5, 259-273.
SOSIČ, I., MIRKOVIĆ, B., ARENZ, K., ŠTEFANE, B, KOS, J., GOBEC, S. (2013) Development of new cathepsin B inhibitors: combining bioisosteric replacements and structure-based design to explore the structure-activity relationships of nitroxoline derivatives. J. Med. Chem. 56, 2, 521-533.
PIŠLAR, A., GLAVAN, G., OBERMAJER, N., ŽIVIN, M., SCHLIEBS, R., KOS, J. (2013). Neuroprotective role of [gama]-enolase in microglia in a mouse model of Alzheimer's disease is regulated by cathepsin X. Aging Cell 12, 4, 604-614.
PIŠLAR, A, ZIDAR, N., KIKELJ, D., KOS, J. (2014) Cathepsin X promotes 6-hydroxydopamine-induced apoptosis of PC12 and SH-SY5Y cells. Neuropharmacology 82, 121-131.
KOS, J., VIŽIN, T., PEČAR FONOVIĆ, U., PIŠLAR, A. (2014). Intracellular signaling by cathepsin X: molecular mechanisms and diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities in cancer. Seminars in Cancer Biol. 31, 76-83.
MIRKOVIĆ, B., MARKELC, B., BUTINAR, M., MITROVIĆ, A., SOSIČ, I., GOBEC, S., VASILJEVA, O., TURK, B., ČEMAŽAR, M., SERŠA, G., KOS, J. (2015) Nitroxoline impairs tumor progression in vitro and in vivo by regulating cathepsin B activity. Oncotarget 6, 22, 19027-19042.
PIŠLAR, A., PERIŠIĆ, M., KOS, J. (2015) Lysosomal cysteine peptidases - molecules signaling tumor cell death and survival. Seminars in Cancer Biol., 34,1-12.
MITROVIĆ, Ana, ZAVRŠNIK, Janja, MIKHAYLOV, Georgy, KNEZ, Damijan, PEČAR FONOVIĆ, Urša, MATJAN-ŠTEFIN, Petra, BUTINAR, Miha, GOBEC, Stanislav, TURK, Boris, KOS, Janko. Evaluation of novel cathepsin-X inhibitors in vitro and in vivo and their ability to improve cathepsin-B-directed antitumor therapy. Cellular and molecular life sciences. 2022, 79, no. 1, 34-1-34-14.
JAKOŠ, Tanja, PIŠLAR, Anja, PEČAR FONOVIĆ, Urša, ŠVAJGER, Urban, KOS, Janko. Cysteine cathepsins L and X differentially modulate interactions between myeloid-derived suppressor cells and tumor cells. Cancer immunology and immunotherapy. 2020, . 69, 1869-1880.
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