Relationship between plasma levels of components of the fibrinolytic system and acute-phase reactants in patients with uterine malignancies.

Plasma samples from 17 patients with endometrial cancer and from 52 patients with cervical carcinoma were determined with respect to their levels of components of the fibrinolytic system (tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen, urokinase-type plasminogen activator antigen, plasminogen activator inhibitor activity) and related to the observed alterations of three acute-phase reactants (C-reactive protein, coeruloplasmin, alpha-1-antitrypsin). As shown previously, uterine malignancies, especially at later stages, exhibited significant increases in plasma levels of urokinase-type plasminogen activator antigen as compared to an age-matched control group. In contrast, tissue-type plasminogen activator antigen and plasminogen activator inhibitor activity remained unchanged. Determination of the acute-phase reactants revealed significant changes in the case of C-reactive protein and coeruloplasmin in later tumour stages. However, the increase in urokinase-type plasminogen activator antigen did not correlate with the increase of either C-reactive protein or coeruloplasmin plasma level. These data indicate that the increase in plasma urokinase-type plasminogen activator antigen in patients with uterine malignancies does not follow the pattern of common acute-phase reactants, like C-reactive protein or coeruloplasmin.