Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica (Apr 2010)
Matrix metalloproteinase 2 and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases 2 in the diagnosis of colorectal adenoma and cancer patients
Abstract
The aim of the study was to assess the importance of the measurement of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2)and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases 2 (TIMP-2) in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) in relation to clinicopathologicalfeatures of tumor and patients' survival. Additionally, we determined serum MMP-2 and TIMP-2 in colorectaladenoma (CA) patients and healthy controls and compared them with tumor markers, CEA and CA 19-9. The serum levelsof MMP-2 and TIMP-2 in 91 CRC patients, 28 CA subjects and 91 healthy controls were determined by ELISA method, butconcentrations of CEA and CA 19-9 using MEIA method. Nonparametric statistical analyses were used. Serum levels ofMMP-2 and TIMP-2 were significantly lower in CRC patients than in healthy subjects and decreased with tumor stage.Additionally, MMP-2 concentrations were significantly lower in patients with CRC than in CA group. Diagnostic sensitivityof TIMP-2 (59%) was the highest among biomarkers tested and increased in combined use with CEA (79%). Moreover,the area under ROC curve (AUC) of TIMP-2 was larger than AUC of MMP-2 in differentiation between CRC and healthysubjects, but lower than AUC of matrix metalloproteinase 2 in differentiation between colorectal cancer and adenoma. Ourfindings suggest clinical usefulness of TIMP-2 as a biomarker in the diagnosis of CRC, especially in combination with CEA.However, further investigation is necessary.
