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  • Title: Role of urokinase plasminogen activator and its receptor in metastasis and invasion of neuroblastoma.
    Author: Li P, Gao Y, Ji Z, Zhang X, Xu Q, Li G, Guo Z, Zheng B, Guo X.
    Journal: J Pediatr Surg; 2004 Oct; 39(10):1512-9. PubMed ID: 15486896.
    Abstract:
    BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) is a serine proteinase that has been suggested to play an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis. It binds to a specific membrane receptor, uPA receptor (uPAR), and activates plasminogen to form plasmin, which participates in tissue degradation and proteolysis. Binding of uPA to its receptor accelerates the activation of uPA from pro-uPA, enhancing the activity of the uPA/uPAR cascade. Because of the high metastatic and invasive potential of neuroblastoma (NB) cells, the authors have analyzed in the current study, the concomitant of uPA and its receptor in NB. METHODS: The expression and distribution of uPA and uPAR were analyzed by immunostaining in 52 neuroblastoma tissues; at the same time we use the reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) for neuroendocrine protein gene products 9.5 (PGP 9.5) mRNA to detect small numbers of NB cells in the peripheral blood and bone marrow (BM) and study the relationship uPA and uPAR to the ability of invasion and metastasis of NB cells. To identify risk factors for disease progression, the authors performed a retrospective analysis of clinical (age, sex, and risk group) and tumor biologic markers (histology, MYCN, DNA ploidy, chromosome 1 p, PGP9.5, uPA, uPAR, and combined uPA and uPAR) in all patients. Survival curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Univariate analysis was performed with the log-rank test. Multivariate analysis was performed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model. RESULTS: The results of immunohistochemistry showed that uPA and uPAR were localized mainly in the membrane and cytoplasm of tumor cells. The positive rate of uPA in the high-risk group (23 of 25, 92.0%) was remarkably higher than that in intermediate-risk group (8 of 17, 47.1%) and low-risk group (3 of 10, 30.0%), in UH (26 of 29, 89.7%) was higher than in FH (8 of 23, 34.8%), respectively, and statistical significance was remarkable both P < .01). Similar results were obtained for uPAR. The positive rate of uPAR in the high-risk group (22 of 25, 88.0%) was substantially higher compared with that in intermediate-risk group (6 of 17, 35.3%) and low-risk group (2 of 10, 20.0%; P < .01). The positive rate of uPAR in UH (24 of 29, 82.8%) was higher compared with that in FH (6 of 23, 26.1%), and statistical significance was remarkable (P < .01). PGP9.5 mRNA in peripheral blood and BM was detected in 24 of 52 (45.2%) patients. The positive rate of PGP 9.5 mRNA in peripheral blood and BM in the cases positive for uPA (22 of 34, 64.7%) was markedly higher than that in the cases negative for uPA (11.1%, 2 of 18), and statistical significance was remarkable (P < .01). There was significant difference in the positive rate of PGP9.5 mRNA between the group positive for uPAR (66.7%, 20 of 30) and the group negative for uPAR (18.2%, 4 of 22), and a larger difference was found between the group positive for both uPA and uPAR (73.1%, 19 of 26) and the group negative for uPA or uPAR (19.2%, 5 of 26). The overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) rates at 5 years for all patients were, respectively, 70% +/- 3% and 63% +/- 3% with a median follow-up of 65 months (range 13 to 20). Among all the biologic and clinical features analyzed, multivariate analysis using Cox proportional hazards regression showed that age, MYCN, and combined uPA and uPAR remained significant predictors for both OS and EFS (P < .01, respectively). Both EFS rate and OS rate were significantly better for patients who positively expressed uPA and uPAR than those who negatively expressed uPA or uPAR. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that uPA and uPAR were overexpressed in high-risk and UH tumor of NB, and that overexpression of both factors was associated with the ability of invasion, metastasis, and prognosis of NB. The presence of high levels of combined uPA and uPAR may be a new prognostic marker that would allow us to identify patients with poorer prognosis who might benefit from more aggressive surgical and adjuvant treatment.
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