Key Lab for Transcriptomics and Proteomics of Human Fatal Diseases, Cancer Research Institute, Southern Medical University, 510515Guangzhou, PR China.
BMC Cancer. 2010 Jun 9;10:270. doi: 10.1186/1471-2407-10-270.
The aim of the present study was to analyze the expression of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and its correlation with clinicopathologic features, including the survival of patients with NPC.
Using real-time PCR, we detected the mRNA expression of MMP9 in normal nasopharyngeal tissues and nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) tissues. Using immunohistochemistry analysis, we analyzed MMP9 protein expression in clinicopathologically characterized 164 NPC cases (116 male and 48 female) with age ranging from 17 to 80 years (median = 48.4 years) and 32 normal nasopharyngeal tissues. Cases with greater than or equal to 6 and less than 6 of the score value of cytoplasmic MMP9 immunostaining were regarded as high expression and low expression, respectively. The relationship between the expression levels of MMP9 and clinical features was analyzed.
The expression level of MMP9 mRNA was markedly greater in NPC tissues than that in the nasopharyngeal tissues. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that the protein expression of MMP9 detected in NPC tissues was higher than that in the nasopharyngeal tissues (P = 0.004). In addition, high levels of MMP9 protein were positively correlated with the status of lymph node metastasis (N classification) (P = 0.002) and clinical stage (P < 0.001) of NPC patients. Patients with higher MMP9 expression had a significantly shorter overall survival time than did patients with low MMP9 expression. Multivariate analysis suggested that the level of MMP9 expression was an independent prognostic indicator (P = 0.008) for the survival of patients with NPC.
High level of MMP9 expression is a potential unfavorable prognostic factor for patients with NPC.
本研究旨在分析基质金属蛋白酶 9（MMP9）在鼻咽癌（NPC）中的表达及其与临床病理特征的相关性，包括 NPC 患者的生存情况。
使用实时 PCR 检测 MMP9 在正常鼻咽组织和鼻咽癌组织中的 mRNA 表达。使用免疫组织化学分析，我们分析了 164 例具有临床病理特征的 NPC 病例（116 例男性和 48 例女性）和 32 例正常鼻咽组织中 MMP9 蛋白的表达。细胞质 MMP9 免疫染色评分值大于或等于 6 分和小于 6 分的病例分别被认为是高表达和低表达。分析 MMP9 表达水平与临床特征之间的关系。
NPC 组织中 MMP9 mRNA 的表达水平明显高于鼻咽组织。免疫组织化学分析显示，NPC 组织中 MMP9 蛋白的表达高于鼻咽组织（P = 0.004）。此外，MMP9 蛋白高水平与 NPC 患者的淋巴结转移状态（N 分类）（P = 0.002）和临床分期（P < 0.001）呈正相关。MMP9 表达水平较高的患者总生存时间明显短于 MMP9 表达水平较低的患者。多变量分析提示 MMP9 表达水平是 NPC 患者生存的独立预后指标（P = 0.008）。
高水平的 MMP9 表达是 NPC 患者潜在的不利预后因素。
