Serum Levels of MMP9 and MMP2 in Patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

Background: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common cancer in the oral area. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and especially MMP-2 and MMP-9 are increased in malignancy and lymph node involvement in oral SCCs. We aimed to evaluate the serum levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with oral SCC compared to normal subjects and their relation with clinicopathological findings. Materials and Methods: In this case control study, 20 patients with oral SCC and 20 healthy subjects were included and serum levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were compared between groups. Also, the correlation between these markers with clinicopathological findings including grade (T) and node (N) were evaluated. Results: Patients with oral SCC had significantly higher serum levels of MMP-2 (p=0.01) and MMP-9 (p<0.001) compared to healthy subjects. With increase in grade T, MMP-2 was significantly increased (p=0.001), but in the MMP-9 case this was not significant (p=0.27). The levels of MMP-2 (p=0.002) and MMP-9 (p=0.01) in cases with lymph node involvement and that of MMP-2 in subjects with smoking history (p=0.001) were significantly high. There was significantly positive correlation between MMP-2 with grade T tumor (r=0.598, p=0.005), lymph node involvement (r=0.737, p<0.001) and smoking (r=0.674, p=0.001) and also between MMP-9 and lymph node involvement (r=0.474, p=0.03). Conclusions: Both markers are significantly increased in oral SCC compared to healthy subjects. However, MMP-2 was better for evaluating lymph node involvement and tumor grade.

Matrix metalloproteinases in head and neck cancer: current perspectives

“…49 Earlier studies by Rosenthal and Matrisian proposed that MMP1, -2, -9, and -14 expression in HNSCC were related to disease progression. 50 Lotfi et al 58 investigated MMP2 and MMP9 serum levels in OSCC patients, and concluded that both were significantly elevated in OSCC patients compared with their healthy counterparts. Significantly, the authors considered MMP2 a better marker for assessing lymph-node metastasis and tumor grade.…”

“…Significantly, the authors considered MMP2 a better marker for assessing lymph-node metastasis and tumor grade. 58 A meta-analysis of laryngeal cancers demonstrated that MMP2 expression was higher in cases with lymph-node metastasis, and suggested that upregulation of MMP2 could be instrumental in tumorigenesis, progression, and prognosis in laryngeal cancer. 127 Zhang et al investigated MMP2, -3, and -9 single-nucleotide polymorphisms in esophageal SCC.…”

“…57 As a result, many studies have examined MMP-expression levels in body fluid, notably serum, as potential diagnostic and prognostic indicators in HNSCC. Lotfi et al 58 indicated that serum levels of MMP2 and MMP9 were higher in OSCC patients compared with levels in healthy subjects. Tadbir et al 59 reported high MMP3 serum levels in patients with OSCC, and suggested that MMP3 serum concentration may aid diagnosis, but not to predict prognosis in OSCC.…”

Expression and Significance of IL-6 and bFGF in Human Tongue Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…In 2015, through observing the serum IL-6 level in patients with tongue cancer, Lotfi A etc. [13] concluded that the serum IL-6 level in patients with tongue cancer was significantly higher than that of the healthy controls. The study of this paper had obtained similar results from the histological level: the expression rate of IL-6 in carcinoma groups was significantly higher than that in the normal tongue tissue and benign tumor, and the expressions among the three groups showed significant difference; the expressions of IL-6 in high differentiation malignant tumor were higher than those in the median differentiation malignant tumor and low differentiation malignant tumor; and all these results indicated that IL-6 played an important role in the genesis and development of tumor.…”

The Evaluation of Serum Il-6 Changes as Proliferative Cytokines in Patients With Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Before and After the Ionizing Radiotherapy

“…Increases in renal cell carcinoma, oral cavity carcinoma and lymphoma have been reported. In one study increased IL-1α, IL-6, IL-8, vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-a) and TNF-α can predict the development of SCC of the tongue from high-risk neoplasms, and may as potential biomarkers for carcinoma screening (Lotfi et al, 2015).…”