Abstract
Hemostatic disorders are frequently observed in patients with malignancy with a significant
proportion developing thrombotic and/or hemorrhagic complications including disseminated
intravascular coagulation (DIC), deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and thrombocytopenia.
Together, these abnormalities are the second most common cause of mortality in cancer
patients, which has led many investigators to try to unravel the pathogenesis of thromboembolic
disease, in the eventuality that this will lead to novel therapeutic treatments. The
plasminogen activation system is one pathway that has been consistently implicated
in cancer. Its relevance to cancer extends from being responsible for many of the
hemorraghic episodes that occur in cancer patients to being fundamental to many, if
not all of the molecular mechanisms that define tumor progression. Recent developments
of clinical significance shall be reviewed with respect to the role of the plasminogen
activation system in tumor growth and metastasis dissemination and in the thrombophilic
state in the cancer patient.
Keywords:
Plasminogen activation - urokinase type plasminogen activator (uPA) - urokinase type
plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) - plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1)
- cancer
