The overexpression membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase is associated with the progression and prognosis in breast cancer.

Membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) has been demonstrated to play an important role in tumor progression. The aim of the present study was to analyze the expression of MT1-MMP in breast cancer and its correlation with clinicopathologic characteristics, including the survival of breast cancer patients. In our results, MT-MMP1 was up-expressed in breast cancer tissues compared with ductal hyperplasia tissues in microarray data (GSE2429). MT1-MMP mRNA and protein expression was markedly higher in breast cancer tissues than in normal breast tissues (P=0.005 and P=0.037, respectively). Using immunohistochemistry, high levels of MT1-MMP protein were positively correlated with the status of clinical stage (I-II vs. III-IV; P=0.043), lymph node metastasis (absence vs. presence; P=0.024), and distant metastasis (No vs. Yes; P=0.017) of breast cancer patients. Patients with higher MT1-MMP expression had a significantly shorter overall survival time than did patients with low MT1-MMP expression. Multivariate analysis indicated that the level of MT1-MMP expression was an independent prognostic indicator (P<0.001) for the survival of patients with breast cancer. In conclusions, MT1-MMP plays an important role on breast cancer aggressiveness and prognosis and may act as a promising target for prognostic prediction.