Expression and Significance of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Uterine Cervix

Objective: To investigate the expression of tissue inhibitor,metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) and TIMP-2,in squamous cell carcinoma,and their significance in the clinicopathologic characteristics of cervical cervix.Methods: The expressions of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were detected by immunohistochemical MaxvisionTM methods in 46 cases of cervical squamous cancer,34 cases of carcinoma in situ of uterine cervix (CINⅢ),and 20 cases of normal cervical epithelium (NCE).The correlation between the expressions of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2,clinical stages,pathological grades and lymph node metastases were analyzed in cervical squamous cancer.Results: The positive expression rates of TIMP-1 were 54.3% (25/46),73.5% (25/34) and 20.0% (4/20),and the positive expression rates of TIMP-2 were 60.9% (28/46),50.0% (17/34) and 20.0% (4/20) in uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma,carcinoma in situ of uterine cervix and normal cervical epithelium respectively.The positive rates of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 were obviously higher in the cervical carcinomas group and CINⅢ group than those in NCE group (P 0.01).There were no significant differences in the positive expression rates of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 in the different tumor stages or histological grades (P 0.05).The positive rate of TIMP-2 was higher in patients without lymph node metastasis than that in patients with lymph node metastasis (P 0.01),but there was no significant difference for TIMP-1 in patients with or without lymph node metastasis (P 0.05).Conclusion: TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 may play a key role in the invasion and lymph-node metastasis of uterine cervical squamous cell carcinoma.