PLAUR and cancer: As an obvious consequence of its role in plasminogen activation and tissue remodeling, uPAR likely facilitates cancer invasion and metastasis by providing malignant cells with a high proteolytic potential required for dissolution of ECM barriers and metastatic spread to distant sites as well as for invasive tumor growth and angiogenesis through ECM-associated GF, processed or released by plm or plm-activated MMPs (Figure 3).