Protein and mRNA expression of tissue factor pathway inhibitor-1 (TFPI-1) in breast, pancreatic and colorectal cancer cells

Abstract Background  Patients with solo tumour malignancy are at higher risk of developing venous thromboembolism. When prophylactic anticoagulation (and in particular heparin) is used during cancer therapy however, patients appear to have a prolonged survival. Tumours express large quantities of procoagulant molecules, which predispose patients to these conditions. Tissue Factor (TF) is an important example, which may have a role in the biology of malignant disease. Intra-tumour vessel coagulation however is not a common phenomenon. Our hypothesis is that cancer cells produce anticoagulant molecules, which may prevent intra-tumour vessel auto-coagulation. Our results show that one such factor—Tissue Factor Pathway Inhibitor (TFPI-1) is expressed by a number of different cancer cells.