Expression And Significance Of MMP-2,TIMP-2 And TGF-β₁ In Pterygium

Objectives : To investigate the expression and significance of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2),tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2) and transforming growth foctor beta-1 (TGF-β₁) in the pterygium.Methods:MAXvisionTM immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of MMP-2,TIMP-2 and TGF-β₁ in the pterygium (20 cases) and the normal conjunctiva (10 cases). And the difference of the expression of MMP-2,TIMP-2 and TGF-β₁ was compared in the pterygium and the normal conjunctiva.The correlation of the expression of MMP-2,TIMP-2 and TGF-β₁ was analysised in the pterygium.Results:There was significant difference of expression of MMP-2 and TGF-β₁ between the pterygium and the normal conjunctiva (z = -4.618,-4.376,p<0.01).But there was no statistic significance for TIMP-2 expression (z = -1.319,p>0.05).By the Spearman rank correlation test analysising,there was correlation between the expression of MMP-2 and TGF-β₁ (r = 0.686,p<0.01).There was no correlation between the expression of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 or between the expression of TGF-β₁ and TIMP-2 (r =-0.410,-0.143,p>0.05).Conclusions: The Imbalance between the expression of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 play a critical role during the occurrence and development of pterygium.MMP-2 and TGF-β₁ can promote the occurrence and development of pterygium,promote and casual each other.The Imbalance induced by TGF-β₁ between the expression of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 may play a critical role during the occurrence,development and invasion of pterygium.