title: Biology and potential clinical implications of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 in colorectal cancer treatment.
abstract: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related death in the industrialized world. About half of "curatively" resected patients develop recurrent disease within the next 3-5 years despite the lack of clinical, histological and biochemical evidence of remaining overt disease after resection of the primary tumour. Availability of validated biological markers for early detection, selection for adjuvant therapy, prediction of treatment efficacy and monitoring of treatment efficacy would most probably increase survival. Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) may be such a marker. TIMP-1 inhibits the proteolytic activity of metalloproteinases, which are centrally involved in tumour invasion and metastases. However, in clinical investigations high tumour tissue or plasma levels of TIMP-1 have shown a strong and independent association with a shorter survival time in CRC patients, suggesting that TIMP-1 could have a tumour-promoting function. Furthermore, measurement of plasma TIMP-1 has been shown to be useful for disease detection, with a high sensitivity and high specificity for early-stage colon cancer. This review describes some basic information on the current knowledge of the biology of TIMP-1 as well as the potential use of TIMP-1 as a biological marker in the management of CRC patients.
authors.affiliation: Section of Biomedicine, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, Denmark.
authors.forename: Nanna
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Møller Sørensen
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Vejgaard Sørensen
authors.forename: Sidse
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ørnbjerg Würtz
authors.forename: Anne-Sofie
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Schrohl
authors.forename: Barry
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dowell
authors.forename: Gerard
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.forename: Ib
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jarle Christensen
authors.forename: Hans Jørgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Nielsen
authors.forename: Nils
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Brünner
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate; D019715:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 / Q000032:analysis* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D019715:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1