title: Is the circulating urokinase plasminogen activator upregulated by the circulating p105 fraction of the HER-2/neu proto-oncogene in patients with cervical cancer?
abstract: It has been suggested that urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) in cancer cells is upregulated by the p185 kD form of the HER-2/neu oncogene. This study was performed to see if the extracellular domain of HER-2/neu, the p105 fraction, which is found in the circulation, has any regulatory influence on uPA in patients with cervical cancer. Levels of uPA and p105 HER-2/neu were determined in blood from age-matched controls and patients with early and advanced cervical cancer. In the patients with cervical cancer, samples were obtained before treatment only. No significant increase in either uPA or HER-2/neu was seen in the patients before their treatment for cervical cancer. Additionally, correlation analysis of circulating uPA and HER-2/neu against each other in both the controls and cervical cancer indicated no relationship except in early stage disease. It appears that circulating uPA and HER-2/neu are not altered in patients with cervical cancer, either early or advanced stages. The upregulation of uPA by HER-2/neu seen in cancer cells in vitro appears to occur in vivo in early stage cervical cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Southwest Cancer Center, Texas Tech Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, Texas, USA. dncnyc@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Diana N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Contreras
authors.forename: Everardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Cobos
authors.forename: Charles
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lox
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000097:blood*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases / Q000097:blood / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000097:blood*; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000201:enzymology / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D018719:Erb-b2 Receptor Tyrosine Kinases; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator; C000715470:MAS1 protein, human