[Expression of ETV5 and MMP-7 in early stage cervical squamous cell carcinoma and its role in lymphatic metastasis].

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Transcription factor Ets variant gene 5 (ETV5) participates in tumor metastasis, and matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) also plays an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis. This study was to investigate the expression of ETV5 and MMP-7 in cervical squamous cell carcinoma, and explore the roles of ETV5 and MMP-7 in invasion and metastasis of early stage cervical squamous cell carcinoma.

METHODS

Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of ETV5 and MMP-7 mRNA in 86 samples of cervical squamous cell carcinoma and 21 samples of normal cervix, and immunohistochemistry was used to detect the expression of MMP-7 protein in these samples.

RESULTS

The mRNA levels of ETV5 and MMP-7 were significantly higher in cervical cancer tissues than in normal cervix tissues (0.507+/-0.073 vs. 0.201+/-0.057, P<0.01; 0.488+/-0.078 vs. 0.305+/-0.064, P<0.01), and were significantly higher in nodal metastasis group than in no nodal metastasis group (0.538+/-0.063 vs. 0.496+/-0.073, P<0.05; 0.542+/-0.066 vs. 0.468+/-0.072, P<0.01). The protein level of MMP-7 was significantly higher in cervical cancer tissues than in normal cervix tissues (3.826+/-1.427 vs. 1.714+/-0.383, P<0.01), and was significantly higher in nodal metastasis group than in no nodal metastasis group (4.935+/-1.614 vs. 2.623+/-1.086, P<0.01). The positive rate of MMP-7 protein was significantly higher in lymph node metastasis group than in no lymph node metastasis group (65.21% vs. 36.51%, P<0.01). ETV5 expression was positively correlated to MMP-7 expression (r=0.221, P<0.05).

CONCLUSION

ETV5 and MMP-7 are highly expressed in metastatic cervical squamous cell carcinoma, and may be served as markers in estimating the invasive and metastatic potential of cervical squamous cell carcinoma.