Expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and p63 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma and their clinical significance

Objective Currently there are not yet any higher specificity and sensitivity markers for the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma.Matrix metalloproteinase 2(MMP-2) plays a key role in cancer metastasis,and p63 may assume the role of a cancer gene in the development of squamous cell carcinoma.This study looks into the expressions of MMP-2 and p63 in 134 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma,their clinical significance,and their application value as biological markers in the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma.Methods We collected specimens of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma from surgical resection,and detected the expressions of MMP-2 and p63 proteins in the peficancerous,cancerous and normal mucosa tissues from each specimen by EnVision immunohistochemistry.Results Both MMP-2 and p63 were expressed in the normal esophageal mucosa,peficancerous and cancerous tissue in an increasing manner.By pairwise comparison,the P values of the MMP-2 expression were 0.010,0.001 and 0.005,and those of the p63 expression were 0.019,0.001 and 0.016 in the above three types of tissues,respectively.The expressions of MMP-2 and p63 were closely associated with the infiltration degree,lymph node metastasis and clinical stages of cancer,and positively correlated with each other in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma tissues.Conclusion The expression levels of MMP-2 and p63 are closely related with the malignancy degree of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.The two proteins may have a synergetic effect,and so the detection of the expressions of them both is of more significance for the diagnosis of esophageal carcinoma.