Expression levels of matrix metalloproteinases in ascites of patients with ovarian cancer and the relationship with pathological characteristics of ovarian cancer

Abstract

Objective: To explore the expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in ascites in ovarian tumor and provide a theoretical basis for the diagnosis and prognosis evaluation of ovarian cancer ascites.

Methods: ELISA was used to detect the levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in ascites samples from 73 cases of patients with malignant ovarian tumor, and RIA was used to detect the expression level of CA125 in the serum in these patients.

Results: The expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in ascites in malignant ovarian tumor were higher than those in ascites in benign ovarian tumor (t = 8.08, 10.39, p < .01), and the difference was of statistical significance. The expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in patients with stage III and IV malignant ovarian tumors were higher than those in patients with stage I and II malignant ovarian tumors, and the difference was statistically significant (t = 2.75, 2.75, p < .05). There was no statistically significant difference in the expression levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 among the patients with different pathological types, different histological grades, lymph node metastasis or not, different ascites volumes and different residual lesions (p > .05). The sensitivities of detecting MMP-2 and MMP-9 in ascites were 76.0% and 88.0%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those of ascites cytological examinations (χ² = 4.61, 12.74, p < .05), but in comparison with serum CA125, there was no statistically significant difference (p > .05). The specificities of detecting MMP-2 and MMP-9 in ascites were 78.3% and 82.6%, respectively, which were significantly lower than those of ascites cytological examinations (χ² = 5.61, 4.38, p < .05), but in comparison with serum CA125, there was no statistically significant difference (χ² = 1.64, 2.68, p < .05).

Conclusions: The levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in ascites may be markers for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant ovarian lesions, and they are related to the prognosis in patients with malignant ovarian tumors.