Relationship between MMP-9 and angiogenesis in renal cell cacinoma

Objective To explore the role and the significance of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) on angiogenesis in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) through observing the relationship between the expression of MMP-9 and microvessel density (MVD) in RCC. Methods The expression of MMP-9 and CD34 in RCCs specimens were detected by immunohistochemical technique, and the clinical pathological pa- rameters were analyzed at the same time. Results The positive rate of MMP-9 was 63.63% in RCC tissue. The expression of MMP-9 in RCC tissue, being significantly correlated with MVD in tumor (r= 0.456, P0.01), was remarkably higher than that in normal renal tissue ( P 0.05). MMP-9 expression and MVD in tumor were closely related ID clinical stage, renal fibromembrane invasion and lymph node metastasis (P0.05), but not related to pathological types of RCC (P0.05). The higher the tumor stage, the higher the expression of MMP-9 and MVD, MMP-9 and MVD's expression were significantly higher in invasion and metastasis than in no invasion and metastasis. Conclusion The high expression of MMP-9 was significantly associated with MVD, biological behaviors of RCC, MMP-9 might be one of the important factors in the angiogenesis of RCC.