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Urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor expression incolorectal neoplasms |
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| Authors: | S Suzuki Y Hayashi Y Wang T Nakamura Y Morita K Kawasaki K Ohta N Aoyama S Kim H Itoh Y Kuroda W Doe |
| Affiliation: | First Division of Pathology, Kobe University School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan. |
| Abstract: | Background—The urokinase type plasminogenactivator receptor (uPAR) may play a critical role in cancer invasionand metastasis. Aims—To study the involvement of uPAR incolorectal carcinogenesis. Methods—The cellular expression and localisationof uPAR were investigated in colorectal adenomas and invasivecarcinomas by in situ hybridisation, immunohistochemistry, and northernand western blot analyses. Results—uPAR mRNA expression was found mainly inthe cytoplasm of dysplastic epithelial cells of 30% of adenomas withmild (19%), moderate (21%), and severe (47%) dysplasia, and in that of carcinomatous cells of 85% of invasive carcinomas: Dukes' stages A(72%), B (93%), and C (91%). Some stromal cells in the adjacent neoplastic epithelium were faintly positive. Immunoreactivity for uPARwas detected in dysplastic epithelial cells of 14% of adenomas and incarcinomatous cells of 49% of invasive carcinomas. uPAR mRNA andprotein concentrations were significantly higher in severe than in mildor moderate dysplasia (p<0.05); they were notably higher in Dukes'stage A than in severe dysplasia (p<0.05), and significantly higher inDukes' stage B than in stage A (p<0.05), but those in stage B werenot different from those in stage C or in metastatic colorectalcarcinomas of the liver. Conclusions—Colorectal adenoma uPAR, expressedessentially in dysplastic epithelial cells, was upregulated withincreasing severity of atypia, and increased notably during thecritical transition from severe dysplasic adenoma to invasivecarcinoma. These findings implicate uPAR expression in the invasive andmetastatic processes of colorectal cancer. Keywords:urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor; colorectal adenoma; colorectal cancer; adenoma-carcinoma sequence |
| Keywords: | urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor colorectal adenoma colorectal cancer adenoma-carcinoma sequence |