PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - M. Rauvala
AU  - K. Aglund
AU  - U. Puistola
AU  - T. Turpeenniemi-Hujanen
AU  - G. Horvath
AU  - R. Willén
AU  - U. Stendahl
TI  - Matrix metalloproteinases-2 and -9 in cervical cancer: different roles in tumor progression
AID  - 10.1136/ijgc-00009577-200605000-00052
DP  - 2006 Apr 01
TA  - International Journal of Gynecologic Cancer
PG  - 1297--1302
VI  - 16
IP  - 3
4099  - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/16/3/1297.short
4100  - http://ijgc.bmj.com/content/16/3/1297.full
SO  - Int J Gynecol Cancer2006 Apr 01; 16
AB  - The incidence of uterine cervical cancer has increased slightly in Western countries, with an increase in relatively young women. Overexpression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs)-2 and -9 has turned out as a prognostic factor in many cancers. We compared the expression of the proteins MMP-2 and MMP-9 in cervical primary tumors with clinical outcome and risk factors of cervical cancer. One hundred sixty-one patients with cervical cancer treated in Umeå University Hospital or Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Sweden, between 1991 and 1995 were included in the study. Paraffin-embedded tissue samples obtained prior to treatment were examined immunohistochemically by specific antibodies for MMP-2 and MMP-9. Forty-two percent of the tumors were intensively positive for MMP-2 and 31% for MMP-9. Nineteen percent of the samples were intensively positive for both proteinases and 47% negative or weak for both. Overexpression of MMP-2 seemed to predict unfavorable survival under Kaplan–Meier analysis and in the multivariate analysis. Early sexual activity and low parity seemed to correlate to overexpression of MMP-2. MMP-9 was not associated with survival or sexual behavior. Intensive MMP-9 was noted in grade 1 tumors. We conclude that MMP-2 and MMP-9 have different roles in uterine cervical cancer. MMP-2 could be associated with aggressive behavior, but MMP-9 expression diminishes in high-grade tumors.