Relationship between plasma levels of components of the fibrinolytic system and acute-phase reactants in patients with uterine malignancies

Abstract. Plasma samples from 17 patients with endo-metrial cancer and from 52 patients with cervical carcinoma were determined with respect to their levels of components of the fibrinolytic system (tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen, urokinase-type plasmi-nogen activator antigen, plasminogen activator inhibitor activity) and related to the observed alterations of three acute-phase reactants (C-reactive protein, coeru-loplasmin, α-1-antitrypsin). As shown previously, uterine malignancies, especially at later stages, exhibited significant increases in plasma levels of urokinase-type plasminogen activator antigen as compared to an age-matched control group. In contrast, tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen and plasminogen activator inhibitor activity remained unchanged. Determination of the acute-phase reactants revealed significant changes in the case of C-reactive protein and coeruloplasmin in later tumour stages. However, the increase in urokinase-type plasminogen activator antigen did not correlate with the increase of either C-reactive protein or coeruloplasmin plasma level. These data indicate that the increase in plasma urokinase-type plasminogen activator antigen in patients with uterine malignancies does not follow the pattern of common acute-phase reactants, like C-reactive protein or coeruloplasmin.