title: High expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 in serous ovarian carcinomas and the role of this expression in ovarian tumorigenesis.
abstract: Tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) play key roles in maintaining homeostasis of the extracellular matrix by controlling matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In addition to their role in regulating MMPs, TIMPs have also been shown to have pluripotential effects on cell growth, apoptosis, and differentiation. The aim of this study was to evaluate TIMP-2 level in serous ovarian tumor tissues and to understand further the role of TIMP-2 protein in ovarian tumorigenesis. The expression of TIMP-2 was assessed by immunohistochemistry in a total of 57 ovarian specimens, including 5 normal ovaries, 12 benign serous cystadenomas, 20 serous borderline tumors, and 20 serous carcinomas. In addition, we transfected a TIMP-2 plasmid into the gynecologic cancer cell lines SKOV-3, 2774, and HeLa and then assayed cell growth, apoptosis, and MMP-2 activation. We found that TIMP-2 immunostaining was significantly more frequent in serous carcinomas, mainly in tumor epithelium, compared with cells of the other tissues studied. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 overexpression in ovarian cancer cells did not mediate proapoptosis, inhibited cisplatin-induced apoptosis, and induced MMP-2 expression. These findings suggest that TIMP-2 may function to favor tumor growth in serous ovarian tumorigenesis. Additional research is now needed to elucidate further the role of TIMP-2 in the biologic behavior of ovarian serous tumors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul 135-710, Korea.
authors.forename: Tae-Joong
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Seung Bae
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Rho
authors.forename: Yoon-La
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Chel Hun
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Jeong-Won
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Duk-Soo
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Bae
authors.forename: Geunghwan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ahn
authors.forename: Je-Ho
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Byoung-Gie
authors.initials: BG
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D015153:Blotting, Western; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000494:pharmacology; D018284:Cystadenocarcinoma, Serous / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D018293:Cystadenoma, Serous / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008875:Middle Aged; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019716:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-2 / Q000378:metabolism*; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D019716:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-2; D002945:Cisplatin