Plasminogen activator activity in human breast cancer cytosols.

: Plasminogen activators are an enzyme complex which first appears in the trophoblast and may contribute to the invasive and metastatic process in neoplastic growth. In this study, 102 cytosols from human breast cancer biopsies were analyzed for PAA (with the chromogenic tripeptide S2251 KABI), steroid receptors (ER and PR), age, nodal and menopausal status. The data were submitted to log (X + 1) transformation and the raw and transformed data were analyzed for distribution. Because of the largely non-normal distribution of the data, Spearman's rank order correlation coefficients were generated to test for relationships between these differentiation markers and the clinical data. Nodal and menstrual status groups were compared for PAA and receptor levels using the Wilcoxon rank sum test. We found significant positive correlations between net PAA and ER (p = 0.0001), net PAA and PR (p = 0.0001), and net PAA and age (p less than 0.05). PAA levels for nodal status groups were found to be significantly different (negative at p less than 0.05). Nodal metastases predict poor prognosis while higher receptor levels indicate a better prognosis. As PAA levels correlate with the above biologic properties of breast tumors, they may provide additional prognostic information, especially in cases in whom auxiliary node status is unknown.