%0 Journal Article
%T Early increases in plasminogen activator activity following partial hepatectomy in humans
%A David Mangnall
%A Kirsty Smith
%A Nigel C Bird
%A Ali W Majeed
%J Comparative Hepatology
%D 2004
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1476-5926-3-11
%X Eighteen patients undergoing partial hepatectomy for the removal of hepatic metastases secondary to primary colonic tumours were studied. Increased plasminogen activator activity was found in the final liver samples for the group of patients in whom the resection size was at least 50%. For smaller resections, the increased activity was not observed. The increased activity did not correlate with the age of the patient or with the time between the start of resection and the end of the operation. There was, however, a negative correlation between plasminogen activator activity and the time for which blood supply to the liver was clamped.Our findings are in accordance with those from experimental animal models and show, for the first time, that rapid increases in plasminogen activator activity can occur following similarly large liver resection in humans. Thus, increases in plasminogen activator activity are an early event in the remnant liver following major liver resection in man. Our observations provide support for the contention that increases in plasminogen activators play a key role in the initiation of hepatic regeneration in man.Urokinase-like plasminogen activator (uPA), initially recognised by its ability to convert plasminogen to plasmin and to participate in the fibrinolytic cascade, is now considered to have a wider role, which encompasses metastatic invasion by tumour cells and liver regeneration. In regeneration of the liver following partial hepatectomy, uPA has a number of potential roles. These include initiating the remodelling of the extracellular matrix to allow cell division, activation of extra-cellular pro-metalloproteases and the release of the bound single-chain form of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) from the extracellular matrix (ECM). In vitro uPA and tissue-like plasminogen activator (tPA) have been shown to convert single chain inactive HGF into the active two chain form [1] in cultures of hepatocytes. In normal rodent liver, both the inac
%U http://www.comparative-hepatology.com/content/3/1/11