Anti-PLAU monoclonal antibody, clone 305323

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL/TNFSF10/Apo2L) holds promise for cancer therapy as it induces apoptosis in a large variety of cancer cells while exerting negligible toxicity in normal ones. However, TRAIL can also induce proliferative and migratory signaling in cancer cells resistant to apoptosis induced by this cytokine. In that regard, the molecular mechanisms underlying the tumor selectivity of TRAIL and those balancing apoptosis versus survival remain largely elusive. We show here that high mRNA levels of PLAU, which encodes urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA), are characteristic of cancer cells with functional TRAIL signaling. Notably, decreasing uPA levels sensitized cancer cells to TRAIL, leading to markedly increased apoptosis. Mechanistic analyses revealed three molecular events taking place in uPA-depleted cells: reduced basal ERK1/2 prosurvival signaling, decreased preligand decoy receptor 2 (DcR2)-death receptor 5 (DR5) interaction and attenuated recruitment of DcR2 to the death-inducing signaling complex upon TRAIL challenge. These phenomena were accompanied by increased FADD and procaspase-8 recruitment and processing, thus guiding cells toward a caspase-dependent cell death that is largely independent of the intrinsic apoptosis pathway. Collectively, our results unveil PLAU mRNA levels as marker for the identification of TRAIL-responsive tumor cells and highlight a key role of uPA signaling in 'apoptosis versus survival' decision-making processes upon TRAIL challenge.

The activation of plasminogen plays a crucial role in various extracellular proteolytic events (fibrinolysis, cell migration, ovulation and involution of the mammary gland). In the present study we describe the isolation of the 5' proximal and distal promoter regions of ovine PLAU (urokinase plasminogen activator, u-PA) and SER-PIN1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor 1. PAI-1) genes for the first time in ruminants. Analysis of the 5.645 kb 5'-flanking region of u-PA revealed a putative TATA-less promoter. In contrast the isolated 2.787 kb 5'-flanking region of PAI-1 included a TATA-box. It should be noted that both genes lack the initiator motif around the transcription start site. The two genes share a number of transcription factor binding sites, namely Nuclear Factor-kappa B, Stimulating Protein 1 and Activating protein 1, suggesting co-expression of the two genes. Moreover, additional, not shared, transcription factor binding sites were identified in u-PA and PAI-1. More important of these are the cis-regulatory elements for plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 located in the distal promoter region of u-PA, suggesting an involvement of the other specific inhibitor in the regulation of ovine u-PA gene expression, and the three stress response elements sites present in the proximal and distal promoter of PAI-1. Different genomic fragments of the two 5' flanking regions were directionally cloned into a suitable reporter vector upstream of a promoter-less luciferase gene. Transient transfection into bovine mammary epithelial (BME-UV) cells demonstrated that the regions of -384/+27 and -382/+22 for the u-PA and PAI-1genes, respectively, potentially function as core promoter regions. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.