title: High gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase-7 is associated with early stages of oral cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In the light of the recently found contribution of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) to oral oncogenesis, the correlation of MMP-7 with risk for oral cancer was investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  The MMP-7 -181A/G polymorphism in 159 German and Greek patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 120 healthy controls of equivalent gender and ethnicity was studied.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The detected carrier frequency of the high expression G allele was significantly higher in patients compared to controls (74.8% versus 61.7%, p = 0.0257). This significant difference was more pronounced in patients with early stages of cancer and absent in those with advanced stages. A/G heterozygotes have a double relative risk (OR 2.07, 95%, CI 1.17-3.67) of developing early stages of oral cancer than low expression A/A homozygotes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  MMP-7 gene expression is associated with increased risk only for early stages of oral cancer, possibly due to the inhibitory effect of MMP-7 in angiogenesis.
authors: Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, University of Athens Medical School, "Attikon" Hospital, Athens, Greece. Ivairakt@med.uoa.gr
authors: Eleftherios
authors: E
authors: Vairaktaris
authors: Zoe
authors: Z
authors: Serefoglou
authors: Christos
authors: C
authors: Yapijakis
authors: Antonis
authors: A
authors: Vylliotis
authors: Emeka
authors: E
authors: Nkenke
authors: Spyridoula
authors: S
authors: Derka
authors: Stavros
authors: S
authors: Vassiliou
authors: Dimitrios
authors: D
authors: Avgoustidis
authors: Friedrich W
authors: FW
authors: Neukam
authors: Efstratios
authors: E
authors: Patsouris
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000483:Alleles; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020783:Matrix Metalloproteinase 7 / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: D020783:Matrix Metalloproteinase 7