In vitro studies have demonstrated that the binding of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) to its cell surface receptor (uPAR) greatly accelerates plasminogen activation. However, the role of uPAR in clearing abnormal fibrin deposits from the lung is uncertain. Knowing that uPA binding to uPAR is species specific, we used adenoviral vectors to transfer human or murine uPA genes into huma...

Impaired fibrinolytic activity and persistent fibrin deposits in lung tissue have been associated with lung fibrotic disorders. The present study examined the sources of plaminogen activator (PA) changes induced by a single intratracheal administration of silica particles (5 mg) in the mouse lung. We found in both control and silica-treated animals that amiloride almost totally abolished PA act...

Interaction between the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR) localizes cellular proteolysis and promotes cellular proliferation and migration. The interaction between uPA and uPAR at the surface of epithelial cells thereby contributes to the pathogenesis of lung inflammation and neoplasia. In this study, we sought to determine if uPA itself alters uPAR expression b...

PURPOSE Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) is a protease involved in tissue remodeling and cell migration. Little is known about the expression of uPA in pterygium. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of uPA mRNA and activities in various stages of surgically excised pterygia specimens and cultured pterygium fibroblasts and to compare them with normal conjunctiva...

Background—Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. The underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Methods and Results—Using in vivo microscopy on the mouse cremaster muscle, I/R-elicited firm adherence and transmigration of neutrophils were found to be significantly diminished in uPA-deficient mice and ...

The Chemo N0 trial is a prospective randomised multicentre breast cancer therapy trial in which 689 node-negative primary breast cancer patients were enrolled in 14 study centres in Germany and Slovenia between 1993 and 1998 [18]. Principal investigator was Prof. Dr. Fritz Jänicke, formerly at the Technical University of Munich, who is now at the University of Hamburg. In this trial (fig. 1), u...

HOC-I ovarian cancer cells express the single-chain form of the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and cathepsin B (calli B) on their cell surface. The significance of the expression of cell surface uPA/ cath B activity to the invasive potential was examined by preincubating with uPA/cath B-modulating agents in in vitro invasion assay. The antiuPA monoclonal antibody 394 effectively inh...

We have previously demonstrated that uPA is overexpressed in pancreatic tumors. In an attempt to diagnose these tumors earlier, we sought to determine whether uPA could be identified in endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography obtained brushings in patients with malignant pancreatic and biliary strictures. Secondarily, uPA was measured in the serum of this patient population. uPA overexpr...

Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) is a serine protease causally involved in cancer invasion and metastasis. In this study, high concentrations of uPA in primary breast cancers were independently associated with both a shortened disease-free interval and overall survival. For the disease-free interval as endpoint, uPA was a stronger indicator of outcome than lymph node status, whereas for ov...