Expression of MMP-2、MMP-9 and VEGF-C in ovarian cancer and its correlation with the biological behavior

Objective:To explore the association of the expression of MMP-2,MMP-9 and VEGF-C with the clinicobiologic behavior in ovarian carcinoma.Methods:Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of MMP-2,MMP-9 and VEGF-C in 97 cases of ovarian cancer.Results:The positive expression of MMP-2,MMP-9 and VEGF-C had no relationship with histological typing of ovarian carcinoma(P0.05).But the expressions of the three markers were higher in clinical stage Ⅰ,Ⅱ than that in stage Ⅲ,Ⅳ(P0.005 to P0.05),and which were increased with the grading(P0.005 to P0.05).And the expressions were higher in patients with lymph node involvement than those without ones(P0.05 to P0.005).In ovarian carcinoma,the expression VEGF-C had positive direct correlation to both the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9(P0.05).Conclusions:The expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 with cooperative of VEGF-C promote invasion and metastasis of ovarian carcinomas,and thus can be used as markers to predict invasion and metastasis of ovarian carcinomas and the prognosis of these patients as well.