Study On The Expression Of MMP-9, TIMP-1 And Its Relationship With The Clinical Pathology And Prognosis In Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumours

Objective:To study the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9), Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1(TIMP-1) and its relationship with the clinical pathology and prognosis in Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Turnours(MPNST).Methods:Immunohistochemical technique was used to detect the expression of MMP-9,TIMP-1 in the tumorous tissue excised from 58 patients with malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours and 20 patients with benign peripheral neurogenic tumor and in the normal nervers tissue from 5 patients.The relationship of the expression of these two proteins,together with the clinical pathology and prognosis was further investigated.Results:(1) The expression of MMP-9 in MPNST was markedly higher than those in normal nerves and benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors(P＜0.05).The expression of MMP-9 was postively related to the histologic grade(P＜0.05),but not to the sex,age,tumor size,site or recurrence.(2) The expression of TIMP-1 in MPNST was markedly lower than those in normal nerves and benign peripheral nerve sheath tumors(P＜0.05).The expression of TIMP-1 was negatively related to the histologic grade,but not to the sex,age,tumor size,site or recurrence.(3) Of the 28 patients investigated,15 patients shown that the expression grade of MMP-9 was higher than that of TIMP-1,but 7 patients shown that the expression grade of MMP-9 was lower than that of TIMP-1.The result indicates that unbalance expression between MMP-9 and TIMP-1 was not significant for the recurrence of the tumor.Conclusions:The expression of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 is closely associated with the development and histologic grade of MPNST.The up-regulated expression of MMP-9 and down-regulated expression of TIMP-1 may play a important role in occurrence and progress of MPNST.MMP-9 and TIMP-1 might be useful to define invasiveness and prognosis of MPNST.