Clinicopathological significance of MMP-7 and MMP-13 expression in colorectal cancer

Objective To examine the clinicopathological significance of MMP_7 and MMP_13 expression in colorectal cancer. To study the role of MMP_7 and MMP_13 in the invasion and metastasis of human colorectal cancer. Methods Sixty cases of colorectal cancer and 22 cases of normal mucous tissue were tested for MMP-7 and MMP_13 expression using immunohistochemical staining S_P method. Results More cases expressed MMP_7 in colorectal cancer tissue than in normal mucous tissue (P0.01). The positive expression of MMP-13 was not detected in normal mucous tissue. MMP-13 was found in both stromal and tumor cells. MMP-13 appeared to be more abundant in stromal cells. The positive expression of MMP-7 was closely correlated with pothologic grades, Dukes stage and lymph node metastasis(P0.05). Conclusion The increased expression of MMP-7 was related to colorectal cancer progression and might be considered to be useful as a marker for biological aggressiveness of this malignancy. In human colorectal cancer, MMP-13 may be involved in processes leading to the strong desmoplastic reaction.