Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system in which peripheral blood monocytes play an important role. We have previously reported that patients with chronic progressive MS (CPMS) have significantly increased numbers of circulating monocytes which express the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR). In the present study, we examined the expre...

A wide variety of tumor cells exhibit overexpression of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR). In breast cancer, expression of uPA and uPAR is essential for tumor cell invasion and metastasis. It is also known that uPA binds to uPAR and activates the RAS extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway. In our study, small interfering RNA (siRNA) was introdu...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of ulinastatin and docetaxel on invasion of breast cancer cells and expression of uPA, uPAR and ERK, breast cancer MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. METHODS The nude mice were treated with PBS, ulinastatin, docetaxel, and ulinastatin plus docetaxel, respectively. Their effects on 1) cell invasion ability was assayed using Transwell; 2) expression of uPA, uPAR an...

The urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) system has been implicated in cell migration, angiogenesis, extracellular matrix synthesis and tissue remodelling. However, little is known about the role of the system in tendon healing. We used a rat Achilles tendon model to study mRNA and protein expression of uPA and its receptor (uPAR) during tendon healing using immunohistochemical, Northern ...

The low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein (LRP-1) binds and mediates the endocytosis of multiple ligands, transports the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) and other membrane proteins into endosomes, and binds intracellular adaptor proteins involved in cell signaling. In this paper, we show that in murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and L929 cells, LRP-1 functions ...

The assembly of signaling molecules surrounding the integrin family of adhesion receptors remains poorly understood. Recently, the membrane protein caveolin was found in complexes with beta1 integrins. Caveolin binds cholesterol and several signaling molecules potentially linked to integrin function, e.g., Src family kinases, although caveolin has not been directly implicated in integrin-depend...

Endometrial adenocarcinoma is the most common gynecologic malignancy in the United States. However, reliable diagnostic or prognostic tumor markers have not been identified for endometrial cancer. In this study, we examined whether urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (UPAR), a glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-linked membrane protein, is a candidate diagnostic or prognostic marker for patients...

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptors (uPARs), up-regulated during tumor progression, associate with beta1 integrins, localizing urokinase to sites of cell attachment. Binding of uPAR to the beta-propeller of alpha3beta1 empowers vitronectin adhesion by this integrin. How uPAR modifies other beta1 integrins remains unknown. Using recombinant proteins, we found uPAR directly binds alpha...

The urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) has been implicated in the growth, metastasis, and angiogenesis of several solid and hemotologic malignancies. uPAR is part of a cell surface system that also consists of the serine protease uPA and several specific inhibitors (plasminogen activator inhibitors 1 and 2). This system has classically been thought to drive tumor progression by med...

Extensive evidence implicates the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) in tumor growth, invasion, and metastasis. Recent studies have substantiated the importance of the interaction between uPAR and the extracellular matrix protein vitronectin (VN) for the signaling activity of the receptor in vitro, however, the possible relevance of this interaction for the activity of uPAR in tumo...