Figure 5.

Tissue expression of uPAR in human cancer. (a) Peroxidase and multi-immunofluorescence staining of primary colon adenocarcinoma (panels 1–2) and a corresponding liver metastasis with desmoplastic growth pattern (panels 3–4). uPAR is primarily expressed by tumor-infiltrating macrophages (black arrows in 1 and 3; blue arrows in 2 and 4) along with some few detached budding cancer cells at the invasive cancer front (white arrows in 2 and 4) (Ca: cancer, ST: stroma, DS: desmoplastic stroma; LP: liver parenchyma). Reproduced from [129], Copyright (2009, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey, USA) with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (b) An analogous expression pattern is seen in the intestinal subtype of gastric cancer (panels 1–2), where macrophages (green arrows in 2) and neutrophils account for the principal uPAR-expressing cells, while myofibroblasts (blue arrows in 2), at a similar location, contribute to uPAR expression to a lesser extent. In the diffuse subtype (panel 3), the uPAR-positive cells are widespread within the tumor. Despite this heterogeneity, tumor cells (black arrows) constitute a relevant fraction of the uPAR-positive cell population in both gastric cancer subtypes. Modified from [131], Copyright (2011, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.) with permission of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (c) uPAR expression in normal (panel 1) and cancerous ovarian tissues grade II, III, and IV (panels 2, 3, and 4, respectively). Intense uPAR immunoreactivity is detected in both neoplastic epithelium and juxtatumoral stroma compared to the normal tissue and is significantly associated with the increasing tumor grade. Adapted from [144], Copyright (2011, American Association for Cancer Research, AACR, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA), with permission of AACR.