Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.21.7 (plasmin)
9,023 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Plasminogen activators (tPA and uPA) are serine proteases that convert the circulating zymogen plasminogen to active plasmin and mediate fibrin degradation. These multifunctional proteins trigger various biological events such as extracellular matrix degradation, cell adhesion, migration, and proliferation, through not yet fully characterized mechanisms. We report that, in smooth muscle cells and ECV-304 carcinoma cells, tPA and ATF (the N-terminal catalytically inactive fragment of tPA) elicited DNA synthesis that requires activation of the sphingomyelin/ceramide/sphingosine-1-phosphate (Spm/Cer/S1P), signaling pathway and was blocked by D-erythro-2-(N-myristoylamino)-1-phenyl-propanol (D-MAPP) and N-N'-dimethyl sphingosine (DMS), two classical inhibitors of sphingosine-1-phosphate biosynthesis. Binding of tPA to its receptor uPAR triggered the coordinated activation of two key enzymes of the Spm/Cer/S1P pathway, the neutral sphingomyelinase and the sphingosine kinase-1 that was mediated by a common pertussis toxin (PTX)-sensitive mechanism. The tPA-induced sphingosine kinase-1 activation was mediated by Src, since it was inhibited by herbimycin A and in SrcK- cells (overexpressing a dominant negative kinase defective form of Src) and by ERK1/2 (early phase peaking at 15 min). Sphingosine kinase-1 activation was followed by a second phase of ERK1/2 phosphorylation (peaking at 120 min) and subsequent DNA synthesis, which were inhibited by D-MAPP and DMS, by anti-EGD-1 antibodies and in SrcK- cells (in which the mitogenic signaling was rescued by sphingosine-1-phosphate). Altogether, these data underline a pivotal role for the Spm/Cer/S1P pathway in the tPA-induced mitogenic signaling.
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PMID:The sphingomyelin/ceramide pathway is involved in ERK1/2 phosphorylation, cell proliferation, and uPAR overexpression induced by tissue-type plasminogen activator. 1523 24

Plasmin is shown to play a crucial role in many pathophysiologic processes primarily through its ability to degrade extracellular matrix (ECM) and/or mobilizing growth factors that are sequestered in the ECM. Cysteine-rich 61 (CCN1) is a matricellular protein of which expression is up-regulated in cancer and various vascular diseases. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether plasmin liberates CCN1 from the ECM and whether the released growth factor modulates endothelial cell migration. Treatment of breast carcinoma cells (MDA-MB-231) with plasmin released a truncated form of CCN1 (28 kDa) into the overlying medium. Experiments with recombinant CCN1 confirmed that plasmin effectively cleaves CCN1. Thrombin and other clotting/fibrinolytic proteases are ineffective in cleaving CCN1. Further studies revealed that the conditioned medium of plasmin-treated carcinoma cells supports endothelial cell migration and that antibodies specific to CCN1 blocked this enhancing effect. These data were the first to show that plasmin can liberate a pluripotent matrix signaling protein, CCN1, from the ECM. Because both CCN1 and the components of the plasmin generation system are present in tumor cells and a variety of other cells, the proteolysis of CCN1 by plasmin may play a role in many pathophysiologic processes, including tumor cell-mediated angiogenesis.
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PMID:Proteolysis of CCN1 by plasmin: functional implications. 1626 90

Cancer cell invasion is facilitated by extracellular matrix degrading proteases such as plasmin. We have studied the expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and urokinase receptor (uPAR) together with the gamma2-chain of laminin-5 (lam-gamma2) by immunohistochemistry in 20 cases with incipient oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). PAI-1-positive neoplastic cells located at the tip of the putative invasive front of grade 1 (incipient) carcinoma were seen in 16 of the 20 cases (75%), whereas adjacent normal and dysplastic epithelium was PAI-1-negative. Clusters of putative invasive neoplastic cells located in the lamina propria were PAI-1-positive in areas with grade 2 incipient carcinoma as were invasive cancer cells in areas of grade 3-4 invasive carcinoma. uPAR immunoreactivity was strongly expressed in numerous stromal cells in the carcinoma area in all 20 lesions, while a few uPAR-positive stromal cells were found in areas with normal and dysplastic epithelium. uPAR-positive neoplastic cell islands located at the front of the lesions were seen in 15 of the 20 cases. The expression pattern of lam-gamma2 was very similar to that of PAI-1; however, lam-gamma2-positive neoplastic cells were only detected in 11 of the 20 cases (55%) in areas of grade 1 incipient carcinoma. Direct comparison of the 3 components revealed colocalization in neoplastic cell islands in both incipient and invasive SCC. Our results suggest that PAI-1 is a novel potential marker of initial invasion in oral SCC, and that the coordinated expression of PAI-1 with uPAR and lam-gamma2 sustain the features of the early invasive cancer cells.
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PMID:Expression of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, urokinase receptor and laminin gamma-2 chain is an early coordinated event in incipient oral squamous cell carcinoma. 1639 14

Proteolytic enzymes, and especially urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), play an important role in tumour invasion and metastasis. Previously we demonstrated that the production of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) was decreased by several tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) in two prostatic carcinoma cell lines. The effect of the two TKI genistein and tyrphostin AG-1478 was investigated in the prostate carcinoma cell lines PC-3 and DU-145. A reconstituted basal lamina (Matrigel) was used as a migration barrier. The production of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) was also measured. Roles of plasminogen and uPA were examined. Cell invasion was increased by plasminogen, but this enhanced cell migration was counteracted by TKI treatment. The increased cell invasion induced by plasminogen was decreased by at least 60% in both cell lines when alpha-2 anti-plasmin was added to the assay. Cells in the absence of plasminogen were not affected by TKI. External uPA failed to regenerate the decreased cell invasion caused by TKI. The production of MMP was inhibited by both TKI. Our results indicate a possible role of TKI as inhibitors of cancer cell invasion by inhibiting uPA and MMP production.
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PMID:The invasive behaviour of prostatic cancer cells is suppressed by inhibitors of tyrosine kinase. 1649 63

Vascular intimal carcinomatosis refers to a characteristic tumor proliferation on vascular intima that replaces normal endothelium. This pathological event of unknown cause is quite different from tumor thrombotic microangiopathy due to the absence of thrombi on the tumor cell surfaces. We analyzed renal transitional cell carcinoma cases with metastasis to the main pulmonary arteries and marked hyperfibrino(geno)lysis. The fibrinogen-derived products from patients' plasma were identified as D1A/gamma, D1/gamma, and D1/beta by immunoblotting with the NH2-terminus of the fragment D specific antibody JIF-23. In all cases, the neoplastic cells with vascular intimal carcinomatosis were stained positive for anti-human annexin 2, which is a unique cell surface co-receptor for plasminogen and tissue-type plasminogen activator. In contrast, normal renal pelvic mucosa or renal transitional cell carcinoma without vascular intimal carcinomatosis did not express any annexin 2. The isolated transitional cell carcinoma cells contained annexin 2 mRNA and expressed its protein. Anti-annexin 2 antibody and transfection of annexin 2 small interfering RNA into these carcinoma cells significantly inhibited tissue-type plasminogen activator dependent plasmin generation. These findings suggest that annexin 2 mediated fibrinolysis on the transitional cell carcinoma cells may play a role in inducing hemorrhagic disorder in vascular intimal carcinomatosis.
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PMID:Annexin 2 and hemorrhagic disorder in vascular intimal carcinomatosis. 1652 21

Glucose deprivation has been shown to increase the invasive and metastatic potential of tumour cells. In the present study, we determined whether the enhanced tumour cell invasiveness resulting from glucose deprivation is linked to increased activity of enzymes required for extracellular matrix degradation. Results of in vitro invasion assays revealed that the invasiveness of human MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 breast carcinoma cells and MCF-10A1 normal breast cells was, respectively, 3.9-, 2.9-, and 2.1-fold higher when they were incubated under glucose-deprivation (0.2 mM glucose) than when incubated under physiological blood glucose levels (5 mM). This effect of glucose deprivation on invasion correlated with increased urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and plasmin activity. Glucose deprivation did not increase the levels of gelatinase and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 secretion, or the expression of cell-associated uPA receptor. To determine whether the increased invasiveness resulting from glucose deprivation is causally linked to increased uPA activity, invasion assays were conducted using MDA-MB-231 cells incubated in 0.2 mM or 5 mM glucose in the presence of a neutralising anti-uPA antibody. Results revealed that the anti-uPA antibody significantly inhibited invasion in a dose-dependent manner and to a much greater extent in cells incubated in 0.2 mM glucose than in cells incubated in 5 mM glucose. These results suggest that low glucose levels in malignant cancers increase tumour cell invasiveness by stimulating uPA and plasmin activity.
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PMID:Stimulation of human breast carcinoma cell invasiveness and urokinase plasminogen activator activity by glucose deprivation. 1656 25

The ability of neoplastic cells to dissemination from a primary tumor to lymphatic nodes and to adjacent and distant tissues and organs is an inseparable feature of malignant tumors and the main cause of failure in their treatment. Metastasis formation is a multistage process which includes proteolysis, the motility and migration of cells, proliferation, and neoangiogenesis. In the first step, the cells released from the primary tumor have to penetrate to the blood or lymphatic vessels (intravasation), the road which dissemination follows. Circulating cells can then migrate through the walls of vessels to surrounding tissues (extravasation) where they settle, proliferate, and induce angiogenesis, creating metastases. Indispensable in the process of intra- and extravasation is the activation of proteolytic enzymes capable of degrading the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding the endothelium or creating the basement membrane of epithelial tissue in different organs. In this stage, the activation of proteolytic enzymes, such as proteinases of the plasmin system, serine proteinases, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), is necessary. Simultaneously, changes occur in the expression of many superficial glycoproteins and factors responsible for cell adhesion (integrins) and intercellular communication (cadherins). Neoangiogenesis is connected with the expression of many markers of this process, among them vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), endoglin (CD105), a transmembranous glycoprotein which is a component of the receptor for transforming growth factor beta (TGFbeta), as well as neuropilin (NRP), the co-receptor for VEGF. Conventionally, the prognosis of neoplastic disease and its treatment are based mainly on exact clinical and histopathological staging. This prognosis could, however, be improved by measuring the molecular and cellular markers which play key roles in tumor progression. Understanding the cellular processes responsible for tumor dissemination can be useful not only in the diagnosis and prognosis of treatment results, but also in developing targeted drugs, selectively directed towards those factors responsible for tumor invasiveness, as well as in creating new therapeutic strategies permitting the use of such drugs. In the present review the authors concentrate mainly on one tumor type, colorectal carcinoma, in which distant metastases, predominantly to the liver, are the main cause of failure, in spite of surgical curing of the primary tumor.
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PMID:[Mechanisms of metastasis and molecular markers of malignant tumor progression. I. Colorectal cancer]. 1701 65

The transition from ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) of the breast to invasive ductal carcinoma is facilitated by proteolytic degradation of basement membrane. The transition can be identified as microinvasive foci in a small proportion of DCIS lesions. We have previously found that MMP-13 is frequently expressed in such foci. To establish whether plasmin-directed proteolysis is likely to be involved in early invasion, we have here studied the expression of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR) in human DCIS lesions with and without microinvasion. uPA mRNA was detected in periductal stromal cells in all of 9 DCIS lesions with microinvasion and in 2 of 9 DCIS lesions without microinvasion by in situ hybridization. The uPA mRNA signal was seen in numerous stromal cells in microinvasive areas together with MMP-13 mRNA expressing cells. Double immunofluorescence analyses, using emission fingerprinting, showed that the uPA expressing stromal cells included both myofibroblasts and macrophages. The early invasive carcinoma cells were negative for uPA. uPAR immunoreactivity was focally upregulated in periductal stromal cells in all of the 9 DCIS lesions with microinvasion and in only 2 of the 9 DCIS lesions without microinvasion. uPAR was seen in both macrophages and myofibroblasts in microinvasive areas, and it was evident that uPA and uPAR colocalized in both fibroblast-like cells and macrophage-like cells. We conclude that periductal macrophages and myofibroblasts are strongly involved in the initial steps of breast cancer invasion by focally upregulating the expression of the plasminogen activation system and MMP-13.
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PMID:Stromal cells associated with early invasive foci in human mammary ductal carcinoma in situ coexpress urokinase and urokinase receptor. 1729 Apr 5

Congenital hepatic fibrosis (CHF) and Caroli's disease are though to result from ductal plate malformation, and the basal laminar components play important roles in biliary differentiation during development. To clarify the involvement of basal laminar components in the ductal plate malformation, this study examined the immunohistochemical expression of laminin and type IV collagen in the livers of CHF and Caroli's disease. Using the polycystic kidney (PCK) rat, an animal model of Caroli's disease with CHF, in vivo and in vitro experiments were also performed. Immunostaining showed that basement membrane expression of laminin and type IV collagen around intrahepatic bile ducts was degraded in CHF, Caroli's disease, and the PCK rats. The degradation of laminin and type IV collagen around bile ducts was also observed in foci of cholangiocarcinoma in situ of Caroli's disease. In vitro, PCK cholangiocytes were found to overexpress plasminogen and a serine proteinase, the tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). When PCK cholangiocytes were cultured in Matrigel, the amounts of laminin and collagen in the gel were significantly reduced, and addition of alpha2-antiplasmin in the culture medium inhibited the degradation of laminin and collagen in Matrigel. These results suggest that biliary overexpression of plasminogen and tPA leads to the generation of excessive amounts of plasmin, and subsequent plasmin-dependent lysis of the extracellular matrix molecules may contribute to the biliary dysgenesis in CHF and Caroli's disease, including progressive cystic dilatation of the intrahepatic bile ducts in Caroli's disease. In addition, it is suggested that once cholangiocarcinoma in situ develops in the biliary epithelium of CHF and Caroli's disease, it tends to transform into invasive carcinoma, due to instability of the basement membrane of the bile ducts.
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PMID:Matrix proteins of basement membrane of intrahepatic bile ducts are degraded in congenital hepatic fibrosis and Caroli's disease. 1902 78

To analyze the process of tumor cell intravasation, we used the human tumor-chick embryo spontaneous metastasis model to select in vivo high (PC-hi/diss) and low (PC-lo/diss) disseminating variants from the human PC-3 prostate carcinoma cell line. These variants dramatically differed in their intravasation and dissemination capacities in both chick embryo and mouse spontaneous metastasis models. Concomitant with enhanced intravasation, PC-hi/diss exhibited increased angiogenic potential in avian and murine models. PC-hi/diss angiogenesis and intravasation were dependent on increased secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), since treating developing tumors with a function-blocking anti-VEGF antibody simultaneously inhibited both processes without affecting primary tumor growth. PC-hi/diss cells were also more migratory and invasive, suggestive of heightened ability to escape from primary tumors due to matrix-degrading activity. Consistent with this suggestion, PC-hi/diss cells produced more of the serine protease urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) as compared with PC-lo/diss. The functional role of uPA in PC-hi/diss dissemination was confirmed by inhibition of invasion, angiogenesis, and intravasation with specific function-blocking antibodies that prevented uPA activation and blocked uPA activity. These processes were similarly sensitive to aprotinin, a potent inhibitor of serine proteases, including uPA-generated plasmin. Thus, our comparison of the PC-3 intravasation variants points to key roles for the uPA-plasmin system in PC-hi/diss intravasation, possibly via (1) promoting tumor cell matrix invasion and (2) facilitating development of VEGF-dependent angiogenic blood vessels.
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PMID:Comparative analysis of metastasis variants derived from human prostate carcinoma cells: roles in intravasation of VEGF-mediated angiogenesis and uPA-mediated invasion. 1972 88


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