Abstract
Matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3) is expressed in a variety of cancer tissues. Recently, it was shown that the MMP-3 gene has a promoter polymorphism due to a variation in the length of a polymorphic track of adenosines located at position -1171, resulting in one allele having 5 adenosines (5A) and the other allele having 6 adenosines (6A). In this study, we detected this polymorphism by using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry based on mini-sequencing assay. Among 3 mini-sequencing assays so far reported, VSET assay was most suitable for detecting MMP-3 promoter 5A/6A polymorphism. Relationship between the MMP-3 genotype and endometrial cancer was then examined for 190 samples including 122 healthy women and 68 patients with endometrial cancer. There was no significant association between them, but frequency of the 5A genotype was significantly increased in the patients with stages III and IV compared to those with stages I and II.
