1. Prognostic importance of the uPa/PAI-1 complex in breast cancer.
- Author
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Sten-Linder M, Seddighzadeh M, Engel G, Rutqvist LE, Linder S, Skoog L, and Wima B
- Subjects
- Adult, Aged, Breast Neoplasms mortality, Breast Neoplasms surgery, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Female, Fibrinolysis, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Life Tables, Macromolecular Substances, Mastectomy, Middle Aged, Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 metabolism, Prognosis, Sweden epidemiology, Treatment Outcome, Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator metabolism, Breast Neoplasms chemistry, Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor 1 analysis, Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator analysis
- Abstract
The complex between urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and its inhibitor PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor 1) has been prognostically evaluated in patients with breast cancer. The concentrations of uPA antigen, PAI-1 antigen and the uPA/PAI-1 complex were analysed in extracts from breast cancer tumours from 233 patients (median follow-up of patients: 71months). The uPA/PAI-1 complex typically constituted about 5% of the uPA antigen (total uPA). The concentration of complex was found to correlate more strongly to the concentration of PAI-1 (r = 0.72; p < 0.0001) than to the concentration of uPA (r = 0.55: p < 0.0001). Interestingly, in this material the uPA/PAI-1 complex (using an optimised cutoff level of 0.22 ng microg(-1) DNA) had a stronger prognostic value than optimised cut-off valuesfor uPA or PAI-1. The data suggest that activation of prourokinase within the tumour, which is a prerequisite for the formation of the uPA/PAI-1 complex, is of better prognostic value than the production of prourokinase or PAI-1 in the breast cancer tumour.
- Published
- 2001