Lung and lymph node metastases were also not significantly affected by uPAR deficiency, in contrast to the significant reduction seen in uPA-deficient mice.
Tumor volume, survival, expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-7, MMP-9 and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and incidence of lymph node metastasis were evaluated in treatment versus control group.
Compared with patients with u-PA-negative cancer cells, patients with u-PA-positive cancer cells more frequently showed a neoplastic invasion beyond the muscularis propria and lymph node metastases.
There were four subtypes of patterns of uPA and E-cadherin expression: 22 uPA-negative/E-cadherin-positive, 17 uPA-negative/E-cadherin-negative, 21 uPA-positive/E-cadherin-positive, and 65 uPA-positive/E-cadherin-negative, uPA overexpression and reduced E-cadherin expression were associated with lymph node metastasis, vessel invasion, serosal involvement, and poor prognosis.