Abstract
Degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) surrounding tumor cells is an essential step for tumor invasion and metastasis. Matrix matalloproteinases (MMPs) that degrade various ECM components are frequently expressed in a variety of tumor tissue at higher levels than in their normal region. Type IV collagen is one of the major components of ECM, and its enzymatic degradation is initiated by MMPs, especially MMP-2 and MMP-9. In this study, investigated MMP-2 and MMP-9 concentration in cancer tissue homogenate of 49 cases with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas, and also measured MMP-2 and MMP-9 concentration of serum. Fresh tissue samples were obtined from 49 patients with carcinomas at the time of biopsy or surgery. The level of MMP-2 were about 2-fold higher in carcinoma tissue with lymphnode metastasis than in tissue without lymphnode metastasis. However, the level of MMP-9 in carcinoma tissue and both MMP-2 and MMP-9 concentration in serum showed no significant difference between cases with lymphnode metastasis and cases without lymphnode metastasis. These results suggest that MMP-2 plays an important role in tumor metastasis, so MMP-2 could be a useful biological marker to represent the metastasis and prognosis.
