Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) in breast cancer: relationship with clinicopathological parameters and prognostic significance.

Background: Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is a serine protease primarily involved in the intravascular dissolution of blood clots. High intratumoral tPA levels are associated with prognosis in several human tumors. In addition, tPA has been shown to be an estrogen-inducible protein in human breast cancer cell lines.