Clinical significance of serum MMP-2 and MMP-7 in patients with ovarian cancer

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are frequently expressed in malignant tumors and play an important role in tumor invasion and metastasis. The aim of this study was to evaluate role of serum MMP-2 and MMP-7 levels in patients with ovarian cancer. Serum levels of MMP-2 and MMP-7 were measured in 28 patients with ovarian carcinoma, 2 with borderline ovarian tumors, 10 with non-malignant gynecological disease and 30 healthy women by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Serum MMP-7 level was significantly (10.24 +/- 1.35 ng/ml) higher in the patients with ovarian malign tumors than healthy controls (3.29 +/- 1.64 ng/ml) (P < 0.05). Postoperative levels of MMP-7 (7.68 +/- 1.17 ng/ml) were significantly lower in patients with malign ovarian tumors than those of preoperative level (10.24 +/- 1.35 ng/ml) (P < 0.05). Serum MMP-2 levels were significantly lower in the patients with ovarian malign tumors (227.51 +/- 9.91 ng/ml) than those in the healthy controls (279.12 +/- 73 ng/ml) (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in serum levels of MMP-2 and MMP-7 in patients with benign ovarian disease when compared to healthy controls and patients with malignant disease (P > 0.05). As a conclusion, MMP-7 can be a useful serum marker to show disease activity in malignant ovarian tumors.