MMP-7 and MMP-9 Expressions in Colorectal Carcinoma and Their Relationship to Invasion and Metastasis

Objective To observe the expressions of MMP-7 and MMP-9 proteins in colorectal carcinoma to find their roles in the invasion and metastasis of colorectal carcinoma detected by tissue microarray technique.Methods Streptavidin-biotin method and tissue microarray technique were used to determine the expressions of MMP-7 and MMP-9 immunohistochemically in 98 patients with colorectal carcinoma and 30 with peri-neoplasm normal mucosa.Results The expression of MMP-7 and MMP-9 was higher in colorectal carcinoma tissues(79.6%,77.6%) than in peri-neoplasm tissues(10.0%,13.3%).The difference was significant(P0.01).There was no significant difference between patients with different genders,ages,tumor sizes(P0.05),but there was between patients with different differentiations,TNM stagings,depth of invasion,lymph node metastasis and peritoneal micro-metastasis(P0.05).MMP-7 was positively correlated with MMP-9 in colorectal cancer tissues(r=0.532,P0.01).Conclusion MMP-7 and MMP-9,having high expressions in colorectal cancer tissues and closely related to tumor invasion and metastasis,can be used as a biological marker for judgment of colorectal progress.