Prof. Francesco Blasi

Academic Career

Professor of Genetics, University of Milan (Italy). Head, Molecular Genetics Unit, DIBIT, H.S. Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan.

Professor of Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Università Vita- Salute H.S.Raffaele, Milan.

Memberships and Honors

Member of E.M.B.O. (Europ. Mol. Biol. Organ.), ECBO (Eur. Cell Biol. Organ.)

Member of the Royal Danish Acedemy of Sciences

Member, Academia Europea

1993. Dr. Honoris Causa, Faculty of Medicine, University of Copenhagen (Denmark).

1994. ISFT Prize 1994 (International Society of Fibrinolysis and Thrombolysis).

• Picone, R, Kajtaniak, EL, Nielsen, LS, Behrendt, N, Mastronicola, MR, Cubellis, MV, Stoppelli, MP, Danø, K & Blasi, F. Phorbol ester regulates synthesis and affinity of urokinase receptors in monocyte-like U937 cells. J. Cell Biol., 108, 693-702, (1989).
  
• Cubellis, MV, Andreasen, PA, Ragno, P, Mayer, M, Danø, K & Blasi, F. Accessibility of receptor-bound urokinase to type-1 plasminogen activator inhibitor. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 86, 4828-4832, (1989).
  
• Roldan, A.L., Cubellis, M.V., Masucci, M.T., Behrendt, N., Lund, L.R., Danø, K., Appella, E. and Blasi, F. Cloning and expression of the receptor for human urokinase-plasminogen activator, a central molecule in cell-surface plasmin-dependent proteolysis. EMBO J., 9, 467-474. (1990).
  
• Behrendt, N., Rønne, E., Ploug, M., Petri, T., Løber, D., Nielsen, L.S., Schleuning, W,-D., Blasi, F., Appella, E. and Danø, K. The human receptor for urokinase plasminogen activator. N-terminal amino acid sequence and glycosylation variants. J. Biol. Chem., 265, 6453-6460. (1990).
  
• Cubellis, M.V., Wun, T.-C. and Blasi, F. Receptor-mediated internalization and degradation of urokinase-PAI-1 complex in human U937 cells. EMBO J., 9, 1079-1085. (1990).
  
• Masucci, M.T. and Blasi, F. The receptor for human urokinase: a potential target for anti-invasive and anti-metastgatic therapy. Thrombosis Research, SUPPL. XI, 49-60. (1990).
  
• Rørth, P., Nerlov, C., Blasi, F. and Johnsen, M. Transcription factor PEA3 participates in the induction of urokinase plasminogen activator transcription in murine keratinocytes stimulated with epidermal growth factor or phorbol ester. Nucleic Acids Research, 18, 5009-5017. (1990).
  
• Plough, M., Rønne, E., Behrendt, N., Jensen, A.L., Blasi, F. & Danø, K. Cellular receptor for urokinase plasminogen activator: carboxy-terminal processing and membrane anchoring by glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol. J. Biol. Chem. 266, 1926-1933. (1991).
  
• Lund, L.R., Rønne, E., Roldan, A.L., Behrendt, N., Rømer, J., Blasi, F. & Danø, K. Urokinase receptor mRNA level and gene transcription are strongly increased by phorbol myristate acetate in human monocyte-like U937 cells. J. Biol. Chem. 266, 5177-5181. (1991).
  
• Behrend, N., Ploug, M., Patthy, L., Houen, G., Blasi, F. & Danø, K. The ligand-binding domain of the cell surface receptor for urokinase-type plasminogen activator. J. Biol. Chem.,266, 7842-7847. (1991).
  
• Nerlov, C., Rørth, P., Blasi, F. and Johnsen, M. AP-1 and PEA3 bind to essential regions of the human uPA enhancer which display cell type specific activity. Oncogene, 6, 1583-1592. (1991).
  
• Masucci, M.T., Pedersen, N. and Blasi, F. A ligand-binding mutant form of the human urokinase plasminogen activator receptor. J. Biol. Chem. 266, 8655-8658. (1991).
  
• Cannio, R., Rennie, P. and Blasi, F. A cell-type specific and enhancer-dependent silencer in the regulation of the expression of the human urokinase plasminogen activator gene. Nucleic Acid Research, 19, 2303-2308. (1991).
  
• Lund, R.L., Rømer, J., Rønne, E., Ellis, V., Blasi, F. & Danø, K. Urokinase-receptor biosynthesis, mRNA level and gene transcription are increased by tranbsforming growth factor b1 in human A549 lung carcinoma cells. EMBO J., 10, 3399-3407. (1991).
  
• Ossowski, L., Clunie, G., Masucci, M.-T. & Blasi, F. In vivo paracrine interaction between urokinase and its receptor: effect on tumor cell invasion. J. CellBiol. 115, 1107-1112. (1991).
  
• Hansen, S.K., Nerlov, C., Zabel,U., Verde, P., Johnsen, M., Baeuerle, P.A. and Blasi, F. Identification of a c-Rel-p65 complex binding to DNA independently of the p50 subunit of NF-kB. EMBO J., 11, 205-213. (1992).
  
• Olson, D., Pöllänen, J., Rønne, E., Høyer-Hansen, G., Rønne, E., Sakaguchi, S., Wun, T.-C., Appella, E., Danø, K. and Blasi, F. Internalization of the urokinase:Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor type 1 complex is mediated by the urokinase receptor. J. Biol. Chem. 267, 9129-9133. (1992).
  
• Møller, L.B., Ploug, M. and Blasi, F. Structural requirements for glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol anchor attachment in the cellular receptor for urokinase plasminogen activator. Eur. J. Biochem. 208, 493-500. (1992).
  
• Nerlov, C., De Cesare, D., Pergola, F., Caracciolo, A., Blasi, F., Johnsen, M., and Verde, P. A regulatory element that mediates co-operation between a PEA3-AP1 element and an AP1 site is required for phorbol ester induction of urokinase enhancer activity in HepG2 hepatoma cells. EMBO J. 11, 4573-4582 . (1992).
  
• Naldini, L., Tamagnone, L., Vigna, E., Sachs, M., Hartmann, G., Birchmeier, W., Daikuhara, Y., Tsubouchi, H., Blasi, F. and Comoglio, P.M. Extracellular proteolytic cleavage by urokinase is required for activation of hepatocyte growth factor/scatter factor. EMBO J., 11, 4825-4833. (1992).
  
• Møller, L.B., Pöllänen, J., Rønne, E., Pedersen, N. and Blasi, F. N-linked glycosylation of the ligand binding domain of the human urokinase receptor contributes to the affinity for its ligand. J. Biol. Chem., 268, 11152-11159. (1993).
  
• Pedersen, N., Schmitt, M.,Rønne, E., Nicoletti, M.I. Høyer-Hansen, G., Conese, M., Giavazzi, R., Danø, K., Kuhn, W. Jänicke, F. and Blasi, F. An unoccupied, water soluble urokinase receptor is present in the ascitic fluid and plasma from patients with ovarian cancer. J. Clin. Invest., 92, 2160-2167. (1993).
  
• Blasi, F. Urokinase and its receptor: a paracrine/autocrine system regulating cell migration and invasiveness. BioEssays, 15, 105-111. (1993).
  
• Fazioli, F. and Blasi, F. Urokinase-type plasminogen activator and its receptor: new target for anti-metastatic therapy? TiPS, 15, 25-29. (1994).
  
• Hansen, S.K., Baeuerle, P.A. and Blasi, F. Purification, reconstitution and IkB association of the cRel-p65(RelA) complex, a strong activator of transcription. Mol. Cell Biol., 14, 2593-2603. (1994).
  
• Conese, M., Olson, D., and Blasi, F. Protease Nexin-1:urokinase complexes are internalmized and degraded through a mechanism that requires both urokinase receptor and a2-macroglobulin receptor. J. Biol. Chem. 269, 17886-17892. (1994).
  
• Hansen, S.K., Guerrini, L. and Blasi, F. Differential DNA sequence specificity and regulation of HIV-1 enhancer activity by the cRel-RelA transcription factor. J. Biol. Chem. 269, 22230-22237. (1994).
  
• Soravia, E., Grebe, A., De Luca, P., Helin, K., Suh, T.T. , Degen, J.L. and Blasi, F. A conserved TATA-less proximal promoter drives basal transcription from the urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) gene. Blood,, 86, 624-635. (1995).
  
• Limongi, P., Resnati, M., Hernandez, L., Cremona, O., Blasi, F. and Fazioli, F. Biosynthesis and apical localization of the urokinase plasminogen activator receptor in polarized MDCK epithelial cells. FEBS Letters, 369, 207-211. (1995).
  
• Guerrini, L., Blasi, F. and Denis-Donini, S. Glutamate activation of NF-kB in developing migrating cerebellar granular cells. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 92, 9077-9081. (1995).
  
• Conese, M., Nykjær, A., Christensen, E.I., Petersen, C.M., Cremona, O., Pardi, R., Andreasen, P.A., Gliemann, J. and Blasi, F. Alpha-2 macroglobulin receptor-dependent internalization of the urokinase receptor. J. Cell Biol. 131, 1609-1622. (1995).
  
• Berthelsen, J. Vandekerkhove, J. and Blasi, F. Purification and characterization of UEF3, a novel factor involved in the regulation of the urokinase and other AP-1 controlled promoters. J. Biol. Chem., 271, 3822-3830. (1996).
  
• Resnati, M., Guttinger, M., Valcamonica, S., Sidenius, N., Blasi, F. and Fazioli, F. Proteolytic cleavage of the urokinase receptor substitutes for the agonist-induced chemotactic effect. EMBO J., 15, 1572-1582. (1996).
  
• Riittinen, L., Limongi, P., Crippa, M.P., Conese, M., Hernandez-Marrero, L., Fazioli, F. and Blasi, F. Removal of domain D2 or D3 of the human urokinase receptor does not affect ligand affinity. FEBS L, 381, 1-6, 1996. (1996).
  
• Teesalu, T., Blasi, F. and Talarico, D. Embryo implantation in mouse: fetomaternal coordinationin the pattern of expression of uPA, uPAR, PAI-1 and a2MR/LRP genes. Mech. Devel., 56, 103-116. (1996).
  
• Bianchi, E., Ferrero, E., Fazioli, F., Mangili, F., Wang, J., Bender, J.R., Blasi, F. and Pardi, R. Integrin-dependent induction of functional urokinase receptors in primary T lymphocytes. J. Clin. Invest., 98, 1133-1141. (1996).
  
• De Cesare, D. Palazzolo, M. and Blasi, F. Functional characterization of COM, a DNA region required for cooperation between transactivating sites, mediating induction of proteases and cytokine genes. Oncogene,13, 2551-2562. (1996).
  
• Nykjær, A., Conese, M., Christensen, E.I., Olson, D., Cremona, O., Gliemann, J. and Blasi, F. Recycling of the urokinase receptor during internalization of the uPA-serpin complexes. EMBO J, 16, 2610-2620. (1997).
  
• Guerrini, L., Molteni, A., Wirth, T., Kistler, B. and Blasi, F. Glutamate-dependent activation of NF-kB during mouse cerebellum development. J. Neurosci., 17, 6057-6063. (1997).
  
• Bianchi, E., Bender, J., Blasi, F. and Pardi, R. Through and beyond the wall: late steps in leukocyte transendothelial migration. Immunol. Today, 18, 586-591. (1997).
  
• De Cesare, Palazzolo, M., Berthelsen, J. and Blasi, F. Characterization of UEF-4, a DNA-binding protein required for transcriptional synergism between two AP-1 sites in the human urokinase enhancer. J. Biol. Chem., 272, 23921-23929. (1997).
  
• Blasi, F. uPAR-uPA-PAI-1: a key intersection in proteolysis, adhesion and chemotaxis. Immunol. Today, 18, 415-417. (1997).
  
• Fazioli, F, Resnati, M, Sidenius, N, Higashimoto, Y, Appella, E and Blasi, F. The urokinase-sensitive region of the urokinase receptor is responsible for its potent chemotactic activity. EMBO J.16, 7279-7286. (1997).
  
• F. Blasi. Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor. In Human Protein Data (A. Haeberli, Ed.); Wiley, CH, 2. Installment. (1997).
  
• Berthelsen, J., Viggiano, L., Schulz, H., Ferretti, E., Consalez G.G., Rocchi, M., and Blasi, F. PKNOX-1 , a gene encoding Prep1, a new regulator of pbx activity, maps on human chromosome 21q22.3 and murine chromosome 17b/c. Genomics, 15, 323-324. (1998).
  
• Berthelsen, J., Zappavigna, V., Mavilio, F. and Blasi, F. Prep1, a novel functional partner of Pbx proteins. EMBO J., 17, 1423-1433 (1998).
  
• Berthelsen, J., Zappavigna, V., Ferretti, E., Mavilio, F. and Blasi, F. Prep1, a novel partner of Pbx proteins, modifies Pbx-Hox protein cooperativity. EMBO J., 17, 1434-1445. (1998).
  
• Sier, CFM, Stephens, R, Bizik, J, Mariani, A, Bassan, M, Pedersen, N, Frigerio, L, Ferrari, A , Danø, K, Brünner, N and Blasi, F. Full-size, GPI-anchor free urokinase receptor is increased in serum of ovarian cancer patients. Cancer Res., 58, 1843-1849. (1998).
  
• Wang, G.J., Collinge, M., Blasi, F., Pardi, R., Bender, J.W. LFA-1 engagement stabilizes uPAR mRNA through effects on the UUAUUUAUU degradation sequence. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 95, 6296-6301. (1998).
  
• Teesalu, T., Blasi, F. and Talarico, D. Expression and function of the urokinase type plasminogen activator during mouse hemochorial placental development. Devel. Dynam. 213, 27-38. (1998).
  
• Muggia, A., Teesalu, T., Neri, A., Blasi, F. and Talarico, D. Trophoblast giant cells express NFkb2 during early mouse development. Devel. Genet. 25, 23-30. (1999).
  
• Ferretti, E., Schulz, H., Talarico, D., Blasi, F. and Berthelsen, J. The Pbx-Regulating Protein Prep-1 is present in a Pbx-complexed form throughout mouse embryogenesis. Mech. of Devel. 63, 53-64. (1999).
  
• Teesalu, T., Masson, R., Basset, P., Blasi, F. and Talarico, D. Expression of matrix metalloproteinases during murine chorioallantoic placenta maturation. Devel. Dynam. 214, 248-258.(1999).
  
• Ibañez-Tallon, I., Caretti, G., Blasi F., and Crippa, M.P. In vivo" analysis of the state of the human uPA enhancer following induction by TPA. Oncogene. 18, 2836-2845. (1999).
  
• Degryse, B., Resnati, M., Rabbani, S., Villa, A., Fazioli, F. and Blasi, F. Src-dependence and pertussis-toxin sensitivity of urokinase receptor dependent chemotaxis and cytoskeleton reorganization in rat smooth muscle cells.Blood. 94, 649-662. (1999).
  
• Sier, C.M.F., Sidenius, N., Mariani, A., Aletti, G., Agape, V., Ferrari, A., Casetta G., Stephens, R.W., Brünner, N. and Blasi, F. Presence of urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor in urine of cancer patients and its possible clinical rilevance. Lab. Invest. 79, 717-722. (1999).
  
• Berthelsen, J., Kilstrup-Nielsen, C., Blasi, F., Mavilio, F. and Zappavigna, V. The subcellular localization of Pbx-1 and Exd proteins depends on nuclear import and export signals and is modulated by association with Prep-1 and Hth. Genes and Develop. 13, 946-953. (1999).
  
• Ferretti, E., Marshall, H., Popperl, H., Maconochie, M., Krumlauf, R. and Blasi, F. Segmental expression of Hoxb2 in r4 requires two separate sites that integrate cooperative interactions between Prep-1, Pbx and Hox proteins. Development. (1999). In press.