Expression Of Urokinasetype Plasminogen Activator (uPA) And Its Receptor (uPAR) And Plasimnogen Activator Inhibitors(PAI-1) In Epithelial Ovarian Cancer And Their Significance

PURPOSE To investigate the expressions of urokinasetype plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR) and plasimnogen activator inhibitors (PAI-1) in Epithelial ovarian cancer and their Significance.METHODS Immunohistochemistry was applied to examine the protein expressions of uPA and uPAR and PAI-1 in 60 specimens of epithelial ovarian cancer and 30 specimens of benign ovarian tumor and 30 specimens of normal ovary. The correlations of their expressions to the clinicopathologic characteristics and prognosis of the patients were analyzed.RESULTS (1) The positive rates of uPA and uPAR and PAI-1 were significantly higher in epithelial ovarian cancer(75%,66.7% and 65% than in benign ovarian tumor (40%,30%,33.3%) and normal ovarian tissue (30%,33.3%,26.7%), (P<0.05). However, in the benign ovarian tumor group the positive rates of uPA and uPAR and PAI-1 were not significantly higher than those in the normal ovar group (P> 0.05).(2) Higher positive rates of uPA,uPAR and PAI-1 was associated with FIGO stage, pathologic grade, and lymph node metastasis (P<0.05), but not associated with histological type, (P>0.05).(3)The positive rates of uPA,uPAR and PAI-1 increased from early to advanced disease stages (uPAχ2=14.400, P<0.05; PAI-1χ2=8.242, P=0.004; uPARχ2=9.6, P=0.002), from low malignant potential tumors to primary tumors(uPAχ2=15.022, P<0.05; PAI-1χ2=29.697, P<0.05; uPARχ2=36.906, P<0.05), and from primary to intra-abdominal metastatic tumors(uPAχ2=13.333, P<0.05; PAI-1χ2=9.573, P=0.002; PARx2=15.313, P<0.05).CONCLUSION The higher expressions of uPA,uPAR and PAI-1 are related to occurrence, development, metastasis, and prognosis of Epithelial ovarian cancer. The three factors might have mutual effect and common regulatory pathways of action in tumor invasion and metastasis.