Korean J Obstet Gynecol.  2006 Jun;49(6):1240-1248.

Expression of MT1, 2, 3-MMP in invasive cervical cancer

• Moon HS
• Sung SH
• Chung HW
• Kim SC

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
Threre are several proteolytic enzymes such as Matrix Metalloproteinases (MMP), which are involved in tumor invasion and metastasis. The aim of this study was to determine the exprssion of Membranous Type MMPs (MT-MMPs) and investigate the relationship between their expression and questioned whether their expression is related to stages and other prognostic factors of cervical cancer.
METHODS
The cervical and cervical cancer tissues were taken from the patients; healthy women (n=14), and the patients with cervical cancer (n=35). The protein expression of MT1, 2, 3-MMP with MMP-2 was examined using immunohistochemical staining and western blotting. MMP-2 activity was measured by zymogram.
RESULTS
The expression of MT1, 2, 3-MMP was higher in cervical cancer than that of normal cervix (p<0.05). No significant association was found between MT-MMPs and clinicopathologic factors, such as age, grade, stage, tumor sizes, and Squamous cell carcinoma-Ag (SCC-Ag) (p>0.05). But there were significant correlations between MT1-MMP, MT3-MMP and lymph node involvemen t (p<0.05). There was significant correlation between MT-MMPs and MMP-2 (p<0.05), too.
CONCLUSION
According to the results, MT-MMP expression could be associated with the pathogenesis of cervical cancer. In addition, the evaluation fo MT-MMPs expression might be helpful to predict lymph node metastasis in cervical cancer. Further prospective study with a large number of cases is needed in future.

Keyword

MT-MMPs; Cervical cancer

MeSH Terms

Blotting, Western
Cervix Uteri
Female
Humans
Lymph Nodes
Matrix Metalloproteinase 14
Matrix Metalloproteinase 16
Matrix Metalloproteinases
Neoplasm Metastasis
Peptide Hydrolases
Uterine Cervical Neoplasms*
Matrix Metalloproteinase 14
Matrix Metalloproteinase 16
Matrix Metalloproteinases
Peptide Hydrolases