Expression of uPA protein in epithelial ovarian cancer and its relationship with the expression of uPAR and the clinic prognosis

Objective To study the expression of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and its relation with expression of receptor (urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor uPAR) in epithelial ovari- an cancer (OEC) and with the clinic prognosis.Methods Expression of uPA and uPAR protein was detected by Streptavidin-biotin-HRP in 68 cases of epithelial ovarian cancer and compared with that in 10 cases of borderline tumor,10 cases of benign tumor and 10 cases of normal tissue,and correlation between them was analyzed.The different expression groups of uPA was correlated with the prognosis of ovarian epithelial can- cer.The expression of uPA showed a correlation with short survival time (P0.01).Results Expression of uPA protein was detected in a significantly greater proportion in epithelial ovarian cancer than borderline tu- mors,benign tumors and normal tissues.There was relationship between uPA protein expression and FIGO stage,histologic grade,lymphatic metastasis,and no relationship with age,size of cancer and pathological type.Expression of uPA protein was negatively correlated with uPAR.Conclusion uPA protein may play an important role in pathogenesis of ovarian cancer,and uPA protein may have an antagonistic role with uPAR protein in formation and progression of ovarian cancer.The high expression level of uPA correlating with the short survival time showed that uPA could serve as an important marker to evaluate the prognosis of the ovari- an cancer patients.