The Expression Of Heparanase, BFGF And Cathepsin D In Cervical Cancer

Background and ObjectiveCervical cancer is one of the most common malignant tumor among women worldwide. The invasion and metastasis is the important sign of carcinoma and major concern of dying in cancer patient. Two essential processes required for metastasis are tumor cell invasion of the basement membrane and the extra cellular matrix (ECM) and neoangiogenesis. A critical event in the process of cancer invasion and metastasis is degradation of various constituents of ECM. Heparan sulfate protoglycan (HSPG) is an essential component of the extracellular matrices and is also a prominent component of blood vessels. Heparanase is an endo-6-D-glucuronidase that degrades HSPG. So far, heparanase activity has been detected in various tumors and was found to correlate with their metastasis potentials. Meanwhile, heparanase may also contribute to angiogenesis to nourish the tumor by releasing the basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF).bFGF is a potent antigenic growth factor that requires heparin. The activity of bFGF is stringently controlled because it can be inactive in normal tissues and becomes activated upon tissue injury, inflammation, and tumor invasion. Heparanase possesses the ability to activate bFGF through structural modulation of the cell surface HSPG. Accordingly, heparanase and bFGF could play complementary biological roles in tumor angiogenesis and invasion.