Plasminogen activators in experimental colorectal neoplasia: a role in the adenoma-carcinoma sequence?

Urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor expression in colorectal neoplasms

BACKGROUND

The urokinase type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) may play a critical role in cancer invasion and metastasis.

AIMS

To study the involvement of uPAR in colorectal carcinogenesis.

METHODS

The cellular expression and localisation of uPAR were investigated in colorectal adenomas and invasive carcinomas by in situ hybridisation, immunohistochemistry, and northern and western blot analyses.

RESULTS

uPAR mRNA expression was found mainly in the cytoplasm of dysplastic epithelial cells of 30% of adenomas with mild (19%), moderate (21%), and severe (47%) dysplasia, and in that of carcinomatous cells of 85% of invasive carcinomas: Dukes' stages A (72%), B (93%), and C (91%). Some stromal cells in the adjacent neoplastic epithelium were faintly positive. Immunoreactivity for uPAR was detected in dysplastic epithelial cells of 14% of adenomas and in carcinomatous cells of 49% of invasive carcinomas. uPAR mRNA and protein concentrations were significantly higher in severe than in mild or moderate dysplasia (p<0.05); they were notably higher in Dukes' stage A than in severe dysplasia (p<0.05), and significantly higher in Dukes' stage B than in stage A (p<0.05), but those in stage B were not different from those in stage C or in metastatic colorectal carcinomas of the liver.

CONCLUSIONS

Colorectal adenoma uPAR, expressed essentially in dysplastic epithelial cells, was upregulated with increasing severity of atypia, and increased notably during the critical transition from severe dysplasic adenoma to invasive carcinoma. These findings implicate uPAR expression in the invasive and metastatic processes of colorectal cancer.

In situ stromal expression of the urokinase/plasmin system correlates with epithelial dysplasia in colorectal adenomas

An increase of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and a decrease of tissue-type PA (tPA) have been associated with the transition from normal to adenomatous colorectal mucosa. Serial sections from 25 adenomas were used to identify PA-related caseinolytic activities by in situ zymography, blocking selectively uPA or tPA. The distribution of uPA, tPA, and type 1 PA inhibitor mRNAs was investigated by nonradioactive in situ hybridization, and the receptor for uPA was detected by immunostaining. Low- and high-grade epithelial cell dysplasia was mapped histologically. Results show that 23 of 25 adenomas expressed uPA-related lytic activity located predominantly in the periphery whereas tPA-related activity was mainly in central areas of adenomas. In 15 of 25 adenomas, uPA mRNA was expressed in stromal cells clustered in foci that coincided with areas of uPA lytic activity. The probability of finding uPA mRNA-reactive cells was significantly higher in areas with high-grade epithelial dysplasia. uPA receptor was mainly stromal and expressed at the periphery. Type 1 PA inhibitor mRNA cellular expression was diffuse in the stroma, in endothelial cells, and in a subpopulation of alpha-smooth muscle cell actin-reactive cells. These results show that a stromal up-regulation of the uPA/plasmin system is associated with foci of severe dysplasia in a subset of colorectal adenomas.

Plasminogen activators and plasminogen activator inhibitors in human colorectal carcinoma tissues are not expressed by the tumour cells

Plasminogen activators (PA) have been implicated with the degradation of extracellular matrix during the invasive growth of metastasising tumour cells. The significance of PA expression in tumour cells for the in vivo growth of malignant tumours is still a matter of debate. We, therefore, performed immunohistological studies on human colon tumours using monoclonal antibodies against urokinase- (u-PA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) as well as against plasminogen activator inhibitors 1 and 2 (PAI-1, PAI-2). Normal colorectal mucosa of seven samples was negative for all four constituents of the PA system. Tumour epithelium of 64 colorectal carcinomas and 10 liver metastases was consistently negative for both, PA and their inhibitors. However, two of four human colon carcinoma cell lines weakly expressed u-PA, PAI-1 and PAI-2. Intestinal dendritic or fibroblast-like cells within the tumour tissue strongly expressed u-PA and, at a lower level, also t-PA, PAI-1 and PAI-2. Vascular endothelial cells were weakly positive for all components of the PA system in colon carcinoma. Our findings indicate that colon carcinoma cells in their natural environment do not express constituents of the PA system. PA activity, previously found in colon carcinoma tissue, is most likely derived from interstitial cells.

Urokinase-type plasminogen activator is expressed in stromal cells and its receptor in cancer cells at invasive foci in human colon adenocarcinomas

In this study in situ hybridization methods were used to examine biopsy samples from 13 adenocarcinomas of the colon for the presence of mRNA for the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) and its specific cell-surface receptor (u-PAR). In all cases, u-PA mRNA was present in fibroblastlike cells in the stroma adjacent to the invasive tumor nodules. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator mRNA was not detected in the malignant cells. All specimens also contained u-PAR mRNA in cells located at the tumoral-stromal interface of invasive foci, but in contrast at least some of these cells were in all but one case identified as being of malignant origin. Stromal cells, probably tumor-infiltrating macrophages and neutrophils, also were positive in these areas. These results support the view that components of the plasminogen activation system may act to influence proteolytic events occurring at the interface between stroma and malignant cells in adenocarcinomas of the colon in humans.

Cell associated urokinase activity and colonic epithelial cells in health and disease

It is not known if urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) is associated with normal colonic epithelial cells. The aims of this study were to determine if normal colonic epithelial cells have uPA activity and whether this is concentrated at the cell membrane. In addition, the contribution of colonic epithelial cell associated uPA activity to disease related pertubations of mucosal uPA activity were examined. A highly enriched population of colonic epithelial cells was isolated from resected colon or biopsy specimens by an enzymatic technique. uPA activity was measured in cell homogenates by a specific and sensitive colorimetric method and expressed relative to cellular DNA. In two experiments subcellular fractionation of colonic epithelial cells was performed by nitrogen cavitation followed by ultracentrifugation over a linear sucrose gradient. The fractions collected were analysed for uPA and organelle-specific enzyme activities. Normal colonic epithelial cells have cell associated uPA activity (mean (SEM) 5.6 (1.1) IU/mg, n = 18). This colocalised with fractions enriched for leucine-beta-naphthylamidase and 5'-nucleotidase, markers of plasma membrane. uPA activities in epithelial cells from cancerous colons (9.8 (3.1) n = 7) or from mucosa affected by inflammatory bowel disease (3.8 (0.7) n = 15) were not significantly different from normal (paired t test), while that in epithelial cells from greatly inflamed mucosa was similar to that from autologous normal or mildly inflamed areas (4.4 (1.2) v 5.9 (3.6), n = 9). Thus normal colonic epithelial cells have cell associated uPA activity which is concentrated on the plasma membranes, suggesting the presence of uPA receptors. Increased mucosal levels of uPA previously reported in patients with inflammatory bowel disease are not due to increased colonic epithelial cell associated uPA.

Localization of urokinase-type plasminogen activator in stromal cells in adenocarcinomas of the colon in humans

Human colon adenocarcinomas and adjacent normal colon tissues were stained immunohistochemically with three different monoclonal antibodies and one preparation of polyclonal antibodies against each of the two plasminogen activators, uPA (urokinase type) and tPA (tissue type). The staining patterns seen with the respective sets of antibodies were identical. In all of 10 cases, staining for uPA in the normal colon tissue was confined to scattered fibroblastlike cells in the lamina propria. Other cells, including epithelial and endothelial cells, were uPA negative. All the tumor infiltrates contained many more uPA-positive cells than the normal tissues, but the staining was confined to fibroblastlike cells and endothelial cells in the tumor stroma, while no staining of the malignant epithelial cells was detected. Analysis for uPA by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in four cases showed an average uPA content of 0.15 ng uPA/mg protein in the normal colon tissues and 1.6 ng uPA/mg protein in the tumors. Tissue-type plasminogen activator immunoreactivity was confined to endothelial cells in both the normal colon tissue and in the colon carcinomas. These findings may indicate that colon cancer cells recruit stromal cells to produce uPA involved in degradation of the extracellular matrix during invasive growth.