Description
PLAU Antibody is a serine protease that catalyzes the transformation of plasminogen to plasmin, which is essential for tissue remodeling and cell migration. Overexpression of PLAU is found in tumor tissues and correlates with poor survival in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). PLAU has also been shown to be involved in epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) by enrichment analysis. Recently, it has been reported that ARID1A regulates PLAU expression in ovarian cancer cells by directly binding to the promoter of the gene. Inhibition of PLAU by siRNA significantly reduced cancer cell growth and invasion and inhibited the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition of ovarian cancer cells [23].
Our studies show that PLAU is a novel therapeutic target in NSCLC. Knockdown of PLAU by siRNA significantly reduces HNSCC cell proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro, and improves cisplatin sensitivity in NSCLC cells. Moreover, intratumoral injection of the PLAU inhibitor UK-371804 significantly decreased lung metastasis in xenografted mice harboring human HNSCC tumors expressing high levels of PLAU.
PLAU Antibody: Applications in Cancer and Protease Research
To determine the role of PLAU in regulating the EMT progression in NSCLC, we constructed human Ramos and HT-1080 cells that express PLAU at different levels. We found that PLAU promotes the EMT process by stabilizing TM4SF1. Inhibition of PLAU increases cell permeability and apoptosis, and this effect is inhibited by knockdown of TM4SF1 (Figures 5A-D). Expression of PLAU and its downstream targets, such as ITGA5 and SERPINE1, was evaluated in TCGA database. It was revealed that the expression of these genes is correlated with clinical outcomes and a better OS rate was observed in patients with lower ITGA5 and SERPINE1 expression than those with high expression.