The Expression and Significance of MMP-2 in Human Pancreatic Carcinoma

Objective: To study the expression and significance of MMP-2 in tumor invasion and local metastasis or as a prognostic factor in patients with pancreatic carcinoma.Methods:The expression of MMP-2 was examined in 32 patients with pancreatic carcinomas and 10 normal pancreatic tissues by S-P immunohistochemical technique and the results were correlated with clinicopathological tumor parameters.Survival analyses were made by using the Kaplan-Meier method.Results:It showed that the positive unit(PU) of MMP-2 in 32 patients with pancreatic carcinoma was 56.3%,the PU of MMP-2 in 10 normal pancreatic tissues 20.0%.Expression of MMP-2 was significantly higher in pancreatic carcinoma than that in the controls((P)0.05).Expression of MMP-2 was independent of sex,age,histologic grading and histologic type,but well correlated with the lymph node metastasis and TNM clinical staging(Ⅰand Ⅱ,ⅡandⅢ).There was a significant association between MMP-2 and prognosis in pancreatic carcinoma.Conclusion:In human pancreatic carcinoma, MMP-2 may be involved in processes leading to the strong desmoplastic reaction.MMP-2 might be useful markers for biological aggressiveness of this malignancy and might contribute to the invasive properties of pancreatic carcinoma,which can be used to evaluate the prognosis of patients.Suppressing MMP-2 expressions might inhibit the invasion and metastasis of pancreatic cancer.