Expression Of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2,-9 And Progesterone Receptor In Endometrial Carcinoma

Objective To detect the expression of matrix metallopro-teinase -2 ( MMP-2 ) > MMP-9 and progesterone receptor (PR) in endometrial carcinoma and study the relationship between them and their relatianships with clinicaopathological features so as to address the roles of these three proteins in the development of this malignant tumor.Methods A total of 45 endometrial carcinoma tissue blocks were obtained and stained using immunohistochemical streptavidin peroxidase technique with monoclonal antibody against MMP-2, MMP-9 and PR, another 12 hyperplasia endometrium and 20 normal endo-metrium tissue blocks were used as control group. Ten high-power fields were evaluated per slide. More than 10% of the cells stained were defined as positive and others as negative. T-test, analysis of variance, chi-square test and exact method were used to assess the data and to generate P values, P<0.05 is valued as the significant mark.Results There were no significant differences between the expressions of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in normal endometrium of proliferative phase and secretive phase(P>0. 05), nor in simple hyperplasia endometrium and complex hyperplasia endometrium (P>0.05). There were no significant differences between the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in normal endometrium and hyperplasia endometrium (P>0.05). The expression rates of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in endometrial carcinoma were 62. 2% and 66. 7%, and that were significantly higher than 15. 16% and 21. 9% in control group respectively (P<0.05).The expression of MMP-2 was observed in 82.61% in moderately and poorly differentiated carcinoma and that was significantly higher than 40. 91% in highly differentiatedcarcinoma(P<0.01), the expression of MMP-2 also significantly higher in the group with myometrium invasion than that in the group without myometrium invasion (P<0.05), however the difference of the expression rate of MMP-2 between the myometrial invasion less than 1/2 group and the myometrial invasion more than 1/2 group is not significant. There was no significance between the expression of MMP-2 in the stage II-IV cases and the stage I cases, but showed an increase trend. The expression rate of MMP-9 in the stage II-IV group was 87.5%, which was significantly higher than the stage I group(52%)(P<0.05). The expression of MMP-9 in endometrial carcinoma also showed increase trend with differentiation > myometrial invasion and lymphnode metastasis , but did not reach the statistic value. The expression of PR in the carcinoma group (55. 56%) was significantly lower than that in the control group(84. 4%) (P<0.01). The expression rate of PR in the postmenstruational carcinoma group(37. 93%) was significantly lower than that in the premenstruational carcinoma group(87.5%) (P<0.01). The expression of PR in stage III-IV group (65.71%) (P<0. 05) and in moderately and poorly differentiated group(34. 78%) was significantly lower than that in highly differentiated group(77. 27%) (P<0.01). The expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in both the control group and endometrial carcinoma group were positively correlated(r=0.396,0.66 respectively). Both MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression negatively correlated to the expression of PR in endometrial carcinoma group (r=-0.42,-0.328 respectively).Conclusion MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression significantly increased in endometrial carcinoma, while PR expression significantly decreased, indicating that increased MMP-2, MMP-9 and decreased PR may play a role in the development of endometrial carcinoma. Increased MMP-2, MMP-9 and decreased PR can reflect the biologic features of endometrial carcinoma. The expression of MMP-2 is related to histologic grade and with/without myometrial invasion; the expression of MMP-9 is relatde to stage ; the expression of PR is related to age, stage, grade and the depth ofmyometrial invasion. Thus to investigate these three proteins simutanously is helpful to evaluate the prognosis of the endometrial carcinoma. The expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were positively correlated; Both MMP-2 and MMP-9 expression negatively correlated...