Objective: To investigate the relationship between type IV collagenase and basement membrane (BM) and the relationship between type IV collagenase and p21 expression.
Methods: Immunohistochemical double labelling technique was used to study paraffin embedded sections of 86 cases of colon carcinoma.
Results: The positive rate of type IV collagenase was 83.72% in carcinoma cases and 10% in normal colorectal mucosa (P < 0.01). Intact BM was seen in normal colorectal mucosa while BM was disrupted and fragmentary in carcinoma cases. A close positive correlation was also found between the expression of type IV collagenase and p21 in colonic carcinoma (r = 0.974, P < 0.01).
Conclusions: The results suggest that type IV collagenase plays an important role in the destruction of BM and invasion by colonic carcinoma.