Expression and clinical significance of matrix metalloproteinases-9 in pancreatic carcinoma tissues

Objective To investigate the expression of matrix metalloproteinases-9(MMP-9) in pancreatic carcinoma and its clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis. Methods The expression of MMP-9 was detected in 70 pieces of primary pancreatic carcinoma and 15 pieces of non-tumor pancreatic tissues by EliVisionTMPlus immunohistochemistry method. The relationship between MMP-9 expression and survival,clinicopathological characteristics were analyzed. Results The positive rate of MMP-9 in 70 pieces of primary pancreatic carcinoma tissues was 68.6%(48/70),and that was significantly higher than that in the 15 pieces of adjacent non-tumor pancreatic tissues(26.7%,4/15). The expression of MMP-9 did not correlate with gender,age and the tumor position,while it was significantly correlated with the tumor size,differentiation grade,TNM stages and lymph node metastasis(P0.05). Progression-free survival and overall survival of negative group(22 cases) were significantly longer than the positive group(48 cases),χ2=11.84,16.09 respectively,P0.05. Conclusions The MMP-9 expression is closely related with clinicopathological parameters of patients with pancreatic cancer. The over-expression MMP-9 may get poor prognostic predictors.