Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP) mRNA and protein expression in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma

Introduction: The aim of the study was to investigate the mRNA expression and protein levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) 2 (MMP-2), 9 (MMP-9), 7 (MMP-7) and their tissue inhibitor TIMP-2 in patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma and control subjects and additionally to evaluate a possible correlation with clinicopathological features. Material and methods: The expression levels of MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-7, and TIMP-2 mRNA were detected by the real-time quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction method in 96 cases of laryngeal carcinoma vs. non-tumor tissue. The blood serum levels of MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-7, and TIMP-2 in patients with laryngeal cancer and 100 healthy subjects were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results: The present study demonstrated that MMP-2, MMP-7, MMP-9 and TIMP-2 mRNA expression levels in carcinoma tissue vs. non-tumor tissue and protein levels in the preoperative serum vs. those obtained in healthy controls were statistically significantly higher than in the healthy controls (p = 0.001). The only significant correlation between mRNA or concentration of measured MMPs and TIMP and the clinicopathological features was found for TIMP-2 protein and for patients with lymph node metastasis. Serum levels of TIMP-2 were higher in cases with lymph node metastasis than in those without lymph node metastasis (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results may suggest that MMPs and TIMP-2 are associated with laryngeal tumorigenesis, but we did not find any distinct correlation between the clinicopathological features of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients and expression levels of MMPs and TIMP. The results suggest that the measurement of serum MMP-2, MMP-7, MMP-9 and TIMP-2 concentration might be helpful to diagnose laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.