The plasminogen-activation system in ovarian tumors.
We studied the plasminogen activation system in tumor tissue by measuring the antigen level of the 2 plasminogen activators, tissue-type (t-PA) and urokinase-type (U-PA) and their inhibitors, plasminogen-activator inhibitors type-I (PAI-I) and type-2 (PAI-2) in the tissue extracts of 43 human benign and malignant ovarian tumors. U-PA levels were significantly higher in malignant than in benign tumors. In addition, U-PA antigen levels were higher in the metastatic tissue of advanced disease (FIGO stage III) than in the primary localized tumor (FIGO stage I/II). Also PAI-I concentrations tended to be higher in malignant than in benign tumors, but this difference was not statistically significant. In contrast, t-PA levels were lower in metastatic than in non-metastatic tumors, whereas PAI-2 levels were unrelated to the stage of ovarian malignancy. These results were integrated in a plasminogen-activation-dependent malignancy index (U-PA x PAI-I/t-PA). This index distinguished the different groups of benign ovarian tumors, localized and metastatic ovarian carcinomas better than U-PA levels. It could be useful as a prognostic indicator in ovarian cancer.
Pujade-Lauraine
E
E
Laboratoire Sainte-Marie, Hôtel-Dieu, France.
Lu
H
H
Mirshahi
S
S
Soria
J
J
Soria
C
C
Bernadou
A
A
Kruithof
E K
EK
Lijnen
H R
HR
Burtin
P
P
D002277:Carcinoma / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000556:secondary; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000473:pathology; D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 / Q000032:analysis; D017396:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 2 / Q000032:analysis; D010960:Plasminogen Activators / Q000378:metabolism*; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator / Q000378:metabolism; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000378:metabolism
D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1; D017396:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 2; D010960:Plasminogen Activators; D010959:Tissue Plasminogen Activator; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator