Open AccessIncreased Expression of the Pro-Protein Convertase Furin Predicts Decreased Survival in Ovarian Cancer
Author(s) -
Robert E. Page,
Andres J. KleinSzanto,
Samuel Litwin,
Émmanuelle Nicolas,
Raid Aljumaily,
Peter Alexander,
Andrew K. Godwin,
Eric A. Ross,
Russell J. Schilder,
Daniel E. Bassi
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
analytical cellular pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.576
H-Index - 24
eISSN - 2210-7185
pISSN - 2210-7177
DOI - 10.1155/2007/930321
Subject(s) - furin , ovarian cancer , proprotein convertase , cancer research , cancer , biology , protein expression , oncology , medicine , enzyme , genetics , gene , biochemistry , lipoprotein , ldl receptor , cholesterol
Proprotein convertases (PCs) are serine proteases that after restricted proteolysis activate many proteins that play a crucial role in cancer such as metalloproteinases, growth factors and growth factor receptors, adhesion molecules, and angiogenic factors. Although the expression of several PCs is increased in many tumors, their expression in primary ovarian tumors has not been studied in detail. We sought to determine if there was an association between the expression of the ubiquitously expressed PCs, furin, PACE-4, PC-5 and PC-7, and ovarian tumor progression.