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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter June 1, 2005

The Protease Inhibitor Bikunin, a Novel Anti-Metastatic Agent

  • H. Kobayashi , M. Suzuki , Y. Hirashima and T. Terao
From the journal Biological Chemistry

Abstract

Bikunin is a Kunitz-type protease inhibitor predominantly found in human amniotic fluid. In cancers, administration of bikunin may block tumor cell invasion by a direct inhibition of tumor cell-associated plasmin activity as well as by inhibiting urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) expression at the gene and protein levels, possibly through suppression of CD44 dimerization and/or the MAP kinase signaling cascade. Treatment of cancer patients with bikunin may be beneficial in the adjuvant setting to delay the onset of metastasis development and/or in combination with cytotoxic agents to improve treatment efficacy in patients with advanced ovarian cancer.

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Published Online: 2005-06-01
Published in Print: 2003-05-15

Copyright © 2003 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG

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