Matrix Metalloproteinases in Breast Cancer
Diana Schveigert, Saulius Bružas, Irena Nedzelskienė, Genovefa Chvatovič, Raimundas Meškauskas, Janina Didžiapetrienė
Background. Breast cancer is the most common diagnosed oncological disease among women. In the world one of the nine women will suffer from this disease and yearly 130 thousand women die from breast cancer. To decrease mortality rates from breast cancer it is important to detect early the tumor and metastases, because it leads to better treatment results. Growing knowledge in the disease progression mechanisms and molecular biomarkers, indicating the disease prognosis, opens the opportunities to identify new biomarkers, including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), which may be prognostic disease markers.
Aim of the study - to determine gene expression of the matrix metallo- proteinases MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, MMP-9, MMP-11, MMP-13, membrane type MMP-1 (MT1-MMP) and their tissue inhib itors (TIMP-1, TIMP-2) in breast tumors, also MMP-9 and MMP-11 gene expression in patients’ blood.
Material and methods. The study comprised 88 women with a histologically confirmed breast cancer and treated in Department of Breast surgery and oncology at Institute of Oncology, Vilnius University. After RNA purification, MMP and TIMP gene expression were analyzed using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT PCR) from tumor and blood samples.
Results. MMP and TIMP-2 gene expression was detected in all breast tumors (n=88), TIMP-1 expression - in 43 tumors. Gene expression analysis in patient’ blood showed positive expression of MMP-9 in 48 patients (55.8 %), while positive MMP-11 expression in 56 patients (65.1 %). Significant differences between MMP gene expression and disease stage, tumor differentiation grade and patients survival were observed.
Conclusions. Various MMP expression was found in all 88 breast tumors. Statistically significant distributions were de ter mined be tween MMP-1, MMP-3, MMP-13, MT1-MMP gene expression in breast tumors and disease stage, also between MMP-1, MMP-13 gene expression and tumor differentiation grade. Patients with no MMP-2 expression in tumor have statistically significant longer survival. MMP-9 expression in blood correlates with disease stage and tumor differentiation grade.
Keywords: breast cancer, matrix metalloproteinases.
