Serum levels of MMP9 and MMP2 in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma.
BACKGROUND
Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common cancer in the oral area. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and especially MMP-2 and MMP-9 are increased in malignancy and lymph node involvement in oral SCCs. We aimed to evaluate the serum levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with oral SCC compared to normal subjects and their relation with clinicopathological findings.


METHODS
In this case control study, 20 patients with oral SCC and 20 healthy subjects were included and serum levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were compared between groups. Also, the correlation between these markers with clinicopathological findings including grade (T) and node (N) were evaluated.


RESULTS
Patients with oral SCC had significantly higher serum levels of MMP-2 (p=0.01) and MMP-9 (p<0.001) compared to healthy subjects. With increase in grade T, MMP-2 was significantly increased (p=0.001), but in the MMP-9 case this was not significant (p=0.27). The levels of MMP-2 (p=0.002) and MMP-9 (p=0.01) in cases with lymph node involvement and that of MMP-2 in subjects with smoking history (p=0.001) were significantly high. There was significantly positive correlation between MMP-2 with grade T tumor (r=0.598, p=0.005), lymph node involvement (r=0.737, p<0.001) and smoking (r=0.674, p=0.001) and also between MMP-9 and lymph node involvement (r=0.474, p=0.03).


CONCLUSIONS
Both markers are significantly increased in oral SCC compared to healthy subjects. However, MMP-2 was better for evaluating lymph node involvement and tumor grade.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran E-mail : atena_129@yahoo.com.
Alireza
A
Lotfi
Ghodrat
G
Mohammadi
Atena
A
Tavassoli
Mehrnoosh
M
Mousaviagdas
Hadi
H
Chavoshi
Lale
L
Saniee
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000097:blood* / Q000556:secondary; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000097:blood*; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis
D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C522361:MMP2 protein, human; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2; C579270:MMP9 protein, human; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9