title: MT2-MMP expression associates with tumor progression and angiogenesis in human lung cancer.
abstract: Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are a family of important proteolytic enzymes that play an important role in the remodeling of the tumor microenvironment and associate with tumorigenesis and metastasis. We previously reported that membrane type-2 MMP (MT2-MMP) is highly expressed in human esophageal cancer tissues, and its expression level is positively correlated to tumor size and intratumoral angiogenesis. In order to reveal whether MT2-MMP expression is operative in human lung cancer and its underlying physio-pathological role, in the present study, we examined both mRNA and protein expression levels of MT2-MMP in non-small cell lung caner (NSCLC) tissues and in adjacent normal tissues by using real-time RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry respectively, which showed that both MT2-MMP mRNA (P=0.0359) and protein (P<0.0001) expression levels were significantly increased in cancer tissues in contrast to adjacent normal tissues. Moreover, we also found that the MT2-MMP protein level in cancer tissues positively correlated to lymph node metastasis (P=0.0483), tumor stage (P=0.0483), intra-tumoral microvessel density (MVD) (P=0.0445). We have not found statistically significant correlation between MT2-MMP expression and patients' prognoses, but we found that the patients with both higher MT2-MMP protein expression and higher intra-tumoral microvessel density showed better prognoses than that of the patients with either higher MT2-MMP protein expression or higher intra-tumoral microvessel density (P=0.0311). Thus, our data suggest that MT2-MMP expression positively involves in NSCLC, and might play an important role in promoting the tumor progression and intra-tumoral angiogenesis in NSCLC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Lujun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China ; Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Liangrong
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China ; Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Danxia
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China ; Department of Oncology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Changping
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Biological Treatment, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University Changzhou 213003, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jingting
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000032:analysis*; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000473:pathology*; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D053517:Matrix Metalloproteinase 15 / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009389:Neovascularization, Pathologic / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C507098:MMP15 protein, human; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D053517:Matrix Metalloproteinase 15
keywords: MT2-MMP; NSCLC; intratumoral angiogenesis; prognosis