Expression of MMP-2、MMP-9 and VEGF-C in ovarian cancer and its correlation with the biological behavior

Objective: To explore the association of the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF-C with the clinicobiologic behavior in ovarian carcinoma.Methods: Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF-C in 97 cases of ovarian cancer.Results: The positive expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and VEGF-C had no relationship with histological typing of ovarian carcinoma (P>0.05).But the expressions of the three markers were higher in clinical stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ than that in stage Ⅲ, Ⅳ (P<0.005 to P<0.05), and which were increased with the grading (P<0.005 to P<0.05).And the expressions were higher in patients with lymph node involvement than those without ones (P<0.05 to P<0.005).In ovarian carcinoma, the expression VEGF-C had positive direct correlation to both the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 (P<0.05).Conclusions: The expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 with cooperative of VEGF-C promote invasion and metastasis of ovarian carcinomas, and thus can be used as markers to predict invasion and metastasis of ovarian carcinomas and the prognosis of these patients as well.