The expression and clinical significance of MMP-9 in pancreatic cancer

Objective To investigate the expression of MMP-9 in pancreatic cancer,and to explore its relations with clinicopathological factors.Methods Immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of MMP-9 in 73 cases of pancreatic cancer,and 37 cases of normal pancreas.Results The positive rate of MMP-9 had significant difference between patients with pancreatic cancer and normal pancreas(P 0.05).The expression of MMP-9 was correlated with grade and stage of pancreatic cancer(P 0.05),but not to age of onset(P 0.05).Conclusion The expression of MMP-9 may play a role in the tumorigenesis and progression of pancreatic cancer.MMP-9 could be a factor to diagnose the typing of pancreatic cancer and predict the prognosis of pancreatic cancer.