Expression of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN in retinoblastoma and their significance

Objective To investigate the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase-14(MMP-14) and extra-cellular matrix metalloproteinase inducer(EMMPRIN) in retinoblastoma(Rb) and the relationships between MMP-14 and EMMPRIN and tumor development.Methods Immunohistochemical technique was used to determine the expressions of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN in 39 cases of paraffin embedded Rb samples.Quantitative analysis of the expressions of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN were assessed by measuring the mean gray scale of Rb tissue with the LEICA IM 50 Color Pathologic Analysis System.Differences of the expressions of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN in each clinical and pathological stage were statistically analyzed,and the same step was also undertaken to study the relationship between Rb with MMP-14 positive expression and that with EMMPRIN positive expression. Results Positive expression rate of MMP-14 was 87.18% (34/39) and of EMMPRIN was 84.62%(33/39).The expressions of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN were significantly higher in tumors of the glaucomatous stage than those in the intraocular stage(P0.01 and P0.05),and the same conclusion can be concluded between those in the extra-ocular stage and those in the glaucomatous stage(P0.01 and P0.05),also the expressions of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN were significantly higher in tumors with optic nerve invasion than those without optic nerve invasion(P0.01 and P0.05).There was a statistically significant positive correlation between theexpression of MMP-14 and the expression of EMMPRIN(P0.01).Conclusions Positive expression levels of MMP-14 and EMMPRIN may correlate with tumor invasion and metastasis and they may facilitate the Rb′ invasion and metastasis together.