Alteration of the Methylation Status of Urokinase Plasminogen Activator (uPA) is involved in Proliferation and Invasion of Nasopharyngeal Cancer Cells
- Resource Type
- Authors
- Ju-Hong Yang; Song Zhang; László Makra; Chun-Sheng Lu
- Source
- Archives of Otolaryngology and Rhinology. :023-027
- Subject
- Proteases
medicine.medical_specialty
Chemistry
Plasmin
General Medicine
Matrix (biology)
Matrix metalloproteinase
medicine.disease
Surgery
Metastasis
Zymogen
medicine
Cancer research
Plasminogen activator
Extracellular Matrix Degradation
medicine.drug
- Language
- ISSN
- 2455-1759
The extracellular matrix degradation is the most important step in the process of tumor cell metastasis. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) can catalyzes the conversion of the inactive zymogen plasminogen to the active broad-spectrum plasmin, which degrades a number of matrix proteins and also activates other proteases, including some matrix metalloproteinases.