Expression and significance of MMP3 in synovium of knee joint at different stage in osteoarthritis patients

Objective:To investigate the expression and significance of MMP-3 in synovium of knee joint at different stage in osteoarthritis(OA)patients.Methods:Knee synovial tissue were collected in90 OA patients(the OA group).Patients in the OA group was divided into 3 subgroups:gradeⅠsubgroup(n=30),gradeⅡsubgroup(n=30),gradeⅢsubgroup(n=30).Thirty patients served as control group,lmmunohistochemical assay was used to detect the expression of MMP-3 protein in the knee synovial tissue.Results:MMP-3 protein was detected in all knee synovial tissue.The expression of MMP-3 protein in the OA group was significantly higher that in the normal synovium(P<0.05),and the MMP-3 protein was mainly located in the cytoplasm.There was significant difference in the expression of MMP-3 protein between the gradeⅢsubgroup and the gradeⅠ,gradeⅡsubgroups(all P<0.05).The expression of MMP-3 protein was positively related to the severity of OA(r=0.912,P<0.05).Conclusions:The expression of MMP-3 protein are closely related to pathogenic mechanism of OA.It may be an important indicator of early diagnosis and the activity of the disease of osteoarthritis.