title: Clinical relevance of uPA, uPAR, PAI 1 and PAI 2 tissue expression and plasma PAI 1 level in colorectal carcinoma patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Urokinase (uPA) is a serine protease, which together with uPAR, tPA, PAI 1 and PAI 2 forms the plasminogen activator system, a component of metastatic cascade contributing to the invasive growth and angiogenesis of malignant tumours.
  
  
  METHODS
  Both preceding therapy and after 6-8 weeks of the treatment, plasma PAI 1 levels (photometric microplate method on the ELISA) and uPA, uPAR, PAI 1 and PAI 2 tissue expression (immunohistochemical reaction) were analysed from 80 colorectal carcinoma patients.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis showed higher pre-treatment plasma levels of PAI 1 in patients with advanced tumours, which decreased after surgery or the start of therapy (p=0.004); Patients with higher plasma level PAI 1 before (0.013) and after therapy (0.004) had significantly shorter survival. There was a higher expression of uPA (p<0.001), uPAR (p<0.001), PAI 1 (p=0.042) and PAI 2 (p<0.001) in advanced colorectal carcinoma. A relationship between PAI 2 (p=0.010) and uPAR (p=0.019) expression and survival was demonstrated. There is a correlation between pre-treatment plasma PAI 1 levels and PAI 2 (p=0.028) and uPAR (p=0.043) expression.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Immunohistochemical analysis of PAS in tumour tissue and plasma PAI 1 levels was found to be a useful prognostic factor in colorectal carcinoma patients. Plasma PAI 1 could be advantageous in evaluating the effectiveness of a mode of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic. jana.halamkova@mou.cz
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Halamkova
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kiss
authors.forename: Zdenek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Pavlovsky
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jarkovsky
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tomasek
authors.forename: Stepan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tucek
authors.forename: Lada
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Hanakova
authors.forename: Mojmir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moulis
authors.forename: Zbynek
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cech
authors.forename: Jirina
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zavrelova
authors.forename: Miroslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Penka
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 / Q000032:analysis / Q000097:blood*; D017396:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 2 / Q000032:analysis*; D055293:Receptors, Urokinase Plasminogen Activator / Q000032:analysis*; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D017395:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1; D017396:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 2; D055293:Receptors, Urokinase Plasminogen Activator; D014568:Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator