Expression And Clinical Significance Of MMP-2 And Nm23 In Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Objectivenm23 is a candidate gene for thesuppression of cancer metastasis. Several studies on human breast,hepatocellular,gastric,ovarian and melanomas have shown that reduced nm23 expression was closely related to metastatic progression with poor prognosis; matrix metalloproteinase-2 control the breakdown of extracellular matrix components and play an important role in the process of invasion and metastasis. Thus, to investigate the relationship of the expressions of nm23 and MMP-2 in esophageal carcinoma have very important significance.MethodsImmunohistochemical study for nm23,MMP-2 were performed on 60 samples of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma of paraffin-embedded specimens of surgical carcinoma.ResultsIn 60 cases of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, the expression of nm23 and MMP-2 were31.7 % and 80%. It was found that the positive expression rates of MMP-2 was positively related with invasion degree, clinical stages and lymph node metastasis. Meanwhile, abnormal expression rates of nm23 was negatively correlated with invasion degree, clinical stages and lymph node metastasis. The expression of MMP-2 was negative relatied to that of nm23 (r=-0.555, P<0.01).Conclusion These data shows that the expression rate of MMP-2 and nm23 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma was strongly related with invasion degree, clinical stages and metastasis. They might be the important biological marker in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.