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Matrix metalloproteinase‐9 is associated with disease‐free survival and overall survival in patients with gastric cancer
Author(s) -
Chu Dake,
Zhang Zixi,
Li Yunming,
Zheng Jianyong,
Dong Guanglong,
Wang Weizhong,
Ji Gang
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.25734
Subject(s) - matrix metalloproteinase , medicine , cancer , metastasis , immunohistochemistry , oncology , survival analysis , pathology , survival rate
Matrix metalloproteinase‐9 is a member of the Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) family, which is overexpressed in some solid tumor and thought to enhance the tumor invasion and metastasis ability. Our study is to investigate the association of MMP‐9 expression with disease‐free survival and overall survival of patients with gastric cancer. Clinical gastric cancer specimens and adjacent normal tissues from 286 patients who had not received neoadjuvant chemotherapy were investigated by immunohistochemistry assay. Staining evaluation results were analyzed statistically in relation to various clinicopathological characters, disease‐free survival and overall survival. High level of MMP‐9 expression was detected in gastric cancer, significantly more than in adjacent normal epithelial cells. In gastric cancer, MMP‐9 was significantly positively correlated with depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis. However, no correlations between MMP‐9 expression and patients' age, sex, tumor location or differentiation status were detected. The disease‐free survival and overall survival were significantly shorter for patients with MMP‐9 positive than those with MMP‐9 negative tumors. Multivariate analysis identified MMP‐9 was an independent prognostic factor for both disease‐free survival and overall survival. Our findings provided convincing evidence for MMP‐9 as an important role in human gastric cancer recurrence and prognosis. It might also serve as a novel target for both prognostic prediction and therapeutics.