Clinical significance and levels of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with esophageal cancer

Objective To investigate the clinical significance and levels of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with esophageal cancer.Methods The levels of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 were measured by ELISA in 36 patients with esophageal cancer (patients group) and 10 healthy subjects (control group).All the patients recruited in this study were never interfered before obtaining blood.The TNM staging system was classified according to the pathological report after operation.Results The levels of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 were higher in patients with esophageal cancer than those in healthy subjects (P ＜ 0.05).The levels of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 was not related to age,gender and histological types (P ＞ 0.05),but was related to TNM staging system and local lymph metastasis (P ＞0.05).There were positive correlation between the levels of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 (r =0.45,P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions The early combined detection of serum MMP-2 and MMP-9 has most important significance in confirming clinical diagnosis,formation,progression and prognosis of esophageal cancer. Key words: Esophageal cancer;  Matrix metal proteinase-2;  Matrix metal proteinase-9;  Clinical significance