THE FIBRINOLYTIC ACTIVITY OF BLADDER CANCER

Abstract

Patients with transitional cell carcinoma of the urinary bladder were subjected to the studies of plasminogen activator activity in urine (38 cases) and cancer cells (18 cases).
Plasminogen activator in urine was extracted with 2M potassium thiocyanate solution and the activity was measured by the fibrin plate method. The cancer cells were studied by the histochemical fibrin slide technique.
The results obtained were as follows:
1. In 60.5% of patients with bladder cancer, plasminogen activator activity in urine increased to a high level. Especially in a high malignant tumor group the increase was significant.
2. After surgical intervention (partial cystectomy or TUR), the plasminogen activator activity in urine decreased significantly.
3. The recurrence of bladder cancer was followed again by an increase of plasminogen activator activity. This would indicate that the plasminogen activator was released from the tumor into the urine.
4. Some of the cancer cells showed fibrinolytic activity on the fibrin slides, while the normal epithelial cells showed no activity. The number of cases showing fibrinolytic activity in the cells increased with the malignancy. However, the fibrinolytic activity may be in some aspect due to the artificial damage on the cells in making the preparations.
Furthermore, the possible origin of the plasmiongen activator and its possible physiological functions are discussed.