Prognostic value of intact and cleaved forms of the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor in a retrospective study of 518 colorectal cancer patients

The levels of the soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) in blood have been shown to correlate with prognosis in various cancers. Plasma levels of the combined suPAR forms have previously shown to be a strong prognostic marker in the present cohort of CRC patients and could potentially identify high-risk patients among those with early stage disease. In order to investigate whether the individual suPAR forms are stronger prognostic markers than the combined amount we measured the different uPAR forms in serum from the same cohort and evaluated their prognostic significance.