BACKGROUND

In the light of the recently found contribution of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) to oral oncogenesis, the correlation of MMP-7 with risk for oral cancer was investigated.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The MMP-7 -181A/G polymorphism in 159 German and Greek patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma and 120 healthy controls of equivalent gender and ethnicity was studied.

RESULTS

The detected carrier frequency of the high expression G allele was significantly higher in patients compared to controls (74.8% versus 61.7%, p = 0.0257). This significant difference was more pronounced in patients with early stages of cancer and absent in those with advanced stages. A/G heterozygotes have a double relative risk (OR 2.07, 95%, CI 1.17-3.67) of developing early stages of oral cancer than low expression A/A homozygotes.

CONCLUSION

MMP-7 gene expression is associated with increased risk only for early stages of oral cancer, possibly due to the inhibitory effect of MMP-7 in angiogenesis.