BMC Cancer (Apr 2010)

Increased expression of urokinase plasminogen activator and its cognate receptor in human seminomas

  • Sorrenti Salvatore,
  • Valentina Brancato,
  • Gargiulo Patrizia,
  • Sentinelli Steno,
  • Mottolese Marcella,
  • Baldini Enke,
  • Ulisse Salvatore,
  • Di Benedetto Anna,
  • De Antoni Enrico,
  • D'Armiento Massimino

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2407-10-151
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 1
p. 151

Abstract

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Abstract Background The urokinase plasminogen activating system (uPAS) is implicated in neoplastic progression and high tissue levels of uPAS components correlate with a poor prognosis in different human cancers. Despite that, relative few studies are available on the expression and function of the uPAS components in human seminomas. In the present study we characterized the expression of the urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), its cognate receptor (uPAR) and the uPA inhibitors PAI-1 and PAI-2 in normal human testis and seminomas. Methods The expression of the above genes was evaluated by means of quantitative RT-PCR, western blot, zymographic analysis and immunohistochemistry. Results Quantitative RT-PCR analysis of 14 seminomas demonstrated that uPA and uPAR mRNAs were, with respect to control tissues, increased in tumor tissues by 3.80 ± 0.74 (p Conclusions We demonstrated the increased expression of uPA and uPAR in human seminomas with respect to normal testis tissues, which may be relevant in testicular cancer progression.