BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Obesity is known for low-grade inflammatory state with enhanced production of inflammatory mediators in children and adolescents. Soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) can be generated as a pro-inflammatory marker. This study was conducted to evaluate the role of suPAR, and its association with leptin, adiponectin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), high-sensitive ...

INTRODUCTION Chronic inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and periodontitis, cause the bone destruction by promotion of the differentiation of monocyte/macrophage lineage cells into mature osteoclasts (OCs) with active bone-resorbing character. However, the detailed mechanisms underlying this disorder remain unclear. We herein investigated the role of urokinase plasminogen activa...

Mechanisms that regulate the transition of metastases from clinically undetectable and dormant to progressively growing are the least understood aspects of cancer biology. Here, we show that a large ( approximately 70%) reduction in the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) level in human carcinoma HEp3 cells, while not affecting their in vitro growth, induced a protracted state of tu...

The urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) focuses at the cell surface the activation of pro-uPA and, hence, the formation of plasmin, thus enhancing directional extracellular proteolysis. To characterize the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that control receptor expression, we have cloned an uPAR DNA segment containing upstream regulatory sequences from both the human and mu...

Urokinase type plasminogen activator (uPA) may influence brain pathophysiology after injury. We studied disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and changes in the vasculature after a brain stab wound in uPA-deficient, uPA receptor-deficient, and PA inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) deficient mice. The extravasation of immunoglobulin was greater in PAI-1 deficient mice; less pronounced in uPA-deficient mi...

Dipyridamole, an inhibitor of platelet aggregation, has been shown to have beneficial effects in disorders characterized by extravascular fibrin deposition. Mononuclear phagocytes are present in extravascular sites and are capable of expressing both plasminogen activator and procoagulant activities, which suggests these cells play a central role in extravascular fibrin turnover. We therefore so...

The N-terminal fragment of PRL (16K PRL) is an antiangiogenic factor that, in vitro, inhibits several components of angiogenesis including basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF)-induced cell division, migration, and organization of capillary endothelial cells. An essential step in the regulation of angiogenesis is the activation of urokinase (urokinase type plasminogen activator, uPA), which in ...

Diabetes mellitus and pancreatic cancer are intimately related. Hyperglycemia, a chronic abnormality in diabetes, has been proved to be an independent predictor of mortality from cancer of the pancreas. However, little is known regarding the effect of hyperglycemia on pancreatic cancer cells. The aim of the present study was to evaluate whether increases in glucose concentration modulate the in...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of heparin and thrombolytic agents on superoxide generation by human neutrophils, as inhibition of superoxide production may have a role in reducing ischaemia and reperfusion injury. METHODS Neutrophil superoxide production stimulated by phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), opsonised zymosan, or formyl methionyl leucyl phenylalanine (FMLP) was measured as the s...

1. Possible interactions between fibrin(ogen) and heparin in the control of plasminogen activation were studied in model systems using the thrombolytic agents tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), urokinase and streptokinase.plasminogen activator complex and the substrates Glu- and Lys-plasminogen. 2. Both t-PA and urokinase activities were promoted by heparin and by pentosan polysulphate, ...