Metastasis is a sequential process that allows cells to move from the primary tumor and grow elsewhere. Because of their ability to cleave a variety of extracellular signaling and adhesion molecules, metalloproteases have been long considered key components of the metastatic program. However, the function of certain metalloproteases, such as ADAMTS1, is not clear and seems to depend on the cellular environment and/or the stage of tumor progression. To characterize the function of ADAMTS1, we performed two alternative proteomic approaches, difference gel electrophoresis and stable isotope labeling by amino acids in cell culture, to identify novel substrates of the metalloprotease. Both techniques showed that overexpression of ADAMTS1 leads to the release of semaphorin 3C from the extracellular matrix. Although semaphorins are well known regulators of axon guidance, accumulating evidence shows that they may also participate in tumor progression. Here, we show that the cleavage of semaphorin 3C induced by ADAMTS1 promotes the migration of breast cancer cells, indicating that the co-expression of these molecules in tumors may contribute to the metastatic program.Metastasis, the leading cause of death in cancer patients, is a multistep process that allows selected cells to move from the primary tumor and establish secondary tumors in different organs. Metastatic cells are endowed with specific abilities in order to escape from the initial tumor, survive in circulation, arrest in a distant capillary, extravasate, and grow in a remote site. Increased cell migration is required to fulfill several steps of the metastatic program (1).The initial characterization of cell surface and extracellular zinc endopeptidases showed that they can degrade components of the extracellular matrix (2). This finding along with the fact that, to invade neighboring tissue, migrating malignant cells induce the degradation of the extracellular matrix, led to an intuitive but simplistic hypothesis. Metalloproteases would contribute to tumor progression through the degradation of extracellular structural components. Following up on this view, the therapeutic value of several nonspecific metalloprotease inhibitors was assayed in clinical trials on cancer patients. Unfortunately, these trials failed, showing that the degradation of the extracellular matrix does not explain the role of zinc-dependent metalloproteases in human tumors (3).Extracellular metalloproteases are classified in large families including the matrix metalloproteases, the ADAMs (proteins containing a disintegrin and a metalloprotease domain), and the ADAMTS (ADAMs with thrombospondin motifs) (4). Contradicting the initial hypothesis, it has become recently clear that individual matrix metalloproteases as well as ADAMs and ADAMTSs fulfill far more sophisticated roles. They show restricted specificity, and their function depends on the substrates they cleave. Whereas some metalloproteases are protumorigenic, others act as tumor suppressors (5). For example, ADAM17 contributes to ...