Evaluation of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) in human cases with orofacial clefts: A systematic review

Introduction > The interaction between several cell populations or many genes and the coordina-tion of multiple signal transmission pathways can lead to defects such as orofacial clefts (OFCs). Herein, a systematic review was designed to evaluate a group of important biomarkers (matrix metalloproteinases [MMPs] and tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases [TIMPs]) in human cases with OFCs.Material and methods > Four databases including PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were searched until March 10, 2023, without any restriction. STRING, the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network software, was applied to investigate the functional interactions among the examined genes. The effect sizes including odds ratio (OR) dealing with a 95% confidence interval (CI), were extracted by the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis version 2.0 (CMA 2.0) software.Results > Thirty-one articles were entered into the systematic review that four articles were analyzed in the meta-analysis. Single studies reported that several polymorphisms of MMPs (rs243865, rs9923304, rs17576, rs6094237, rs7119194, and rs7188573); and TIMPs (rs8179096, rs7502916, rs4789936, rs6501266, rs7211674, rs7212662, and rs242082) had an association with OFC risk. There was no significant difference for MMP-3 rs3025058 polymorphism in allelic (OR: 0.832; P = 0.490), dominant (OR: 1.177; P = 0.873), and recessive (OR: 0.363; P = 0.433) models and MMP-9 rs17576 polymorphism in an allelic model (OR: 0.885; P = 0.107) between the OFC cases and the controls. Based on immunohistochemistry reports, three MMPs (MMP-2, MMP-8, and MMP-9) and TIMP-2 had significant correlations with several other biomarkers in OFC cases.Conclusions > MMPs and TIMPs can impact the tissue and cells affected by OFCs and the process of apoptosis. The interaction between some biomarkers with MMPs and TIMPs (e.g., TGFb1) in OFCs can be interesting for future research.