Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 in Cancer: Rationale and Insight for Future Therapeutic Testing.

ABSTRACT: Despite its function as an inhibitor of urokinase and tissue-type plasminogen activator (PA), PA inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) has a paradoxical protumorigenic role in cancer, promoting angiogenesis and tumor cell survival. In this review, we summarize preclinical evidence in support of the protumorigenic function of PAI-1 that has led to the testing of small-molecule PAI-1 inhibitors, initially developed as antithrombotic agents, in animal models of cancer. The review discusses the challenges and the opportunities that lay ahead to the development of efficacious and nontoxic PAI-1 inhibitors as anticancer agents.

SUBMITTER: Placencio VR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4613764 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature