Expression of urokinase receptor in various stromal-cell populations in human colon cancer: Immunoelectron microscopical analysis

✍ Scribed by Haruo Ohtani; Charles Pyke; Keld Dan Ø; Hiroshi Nagura

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1995
• Tongue: French
• Weight: 794 KB
• Volume: 62
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0020-7136
• DOI: 10.1002/ijc.2910620608

✦ Synopsis

The host reaction is an important factor in the biological behavior of cancers. In human colon adenocarcinoma, stromal cells and some cancer cells express the urokinase receptor (uPAR), a molecule involved in the regulation of extracellular proteolysis. The present study reveals the identity of uPARexpressing cell types and the subcellular localization of this molecule by immunoelectron microscopy in colon cancer. uPARpositive cells were most abundant at the invasive margin of colon cancer and were identified as macrophages. fibroblasts, neutrophilic and eorinophilic granulocytes, endothelial cells and cancer cells. Of these, the most numerous were macrophages with uPAR detected along the plasma membrane, in accordance with its function in plasminogen activation on the cell surface. Fibroblasts were labeled in the lumen of rough endoplasmic reticulum, indicating its intracellular synthesis. Some granulocytes and endothelial cells expressed immunoreactivity along the plasma membranes. uPAR-positive cancer cells were stained along the plasma membrane and in rough endoplasmic reticulum. These findings suggested that a variety of non-malignant host cells play an important role in the plasmin-mediated breakdown of the extracellular matrix at the invasive margin.

o 1 YY5 Wcley-Lcss, Inc.