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Expression of UPA and UPAR is associated with the clinical course of urinary bladder neoplasms
Author(s) -
Seddighzadeh Maria,
Steineck Gunnar,
Larsson Per,
Wijkström Hans,
Norming Ulf,
Onelöv Erik,
Linder Stig
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.10426
Subject(s) - urokinase receptor , bladder cancer , quartile , medicine , cancer , urinary bladder , pathology , plasminogen activator , population , hazard ratio , cancer research , biology , oncology , confidence interval , environmental health
The expression of urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and its receptor (uPAR) mRNA was determined in 194 subjects with newly detected bladder neoplasms, selected from a larger population‐based series. An association was found between uPA and uPAR expression ( n = 172; Spearman r s = 0.60, p < 0.001). Both uPA and uPAR mRNA levels were higher in muscle invasive (T2+) tumors than in noninvasive mucosal tumors (Ta) or those invading submucosa (T1). The relative hazard ratios (RHRs) for cancer‐specific death associated with elevated expression (95% CI), adjusted for age and gender in a Cox proportional hazard model, were 1.8 (1.0–3.3) for uPA (upper quartile cut‐line), 2.2 (1.3–4.0) for uPAR (median quartile cut‐line) and 2.5 (1.3–4.9) for uPA + uPAR. An RHR for metastatic disease of 4.0 (1.6–9.9) was observed for uPAR. Restricting the analyses to T2+ tumors, the corresponding figures were: 2.1 (1.1–3.9) for uPA, 1.6 (0.8–3.3) for uPAR and 2.5 (1.1–5.6) for both. We conclude that expression of uPA and uPAR is associated with the clinical behaviour of bladder neoplasms, possibly providing means for refined staging of muscle invasive tumors and target proteins for novel therapies. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.