Background: To study the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1 proteins and mRNA in NSCLC and to analyse their relations with prognosis.
Methods: Immunohistochemistry (IHC) and in situ hybridization (ISH) were used to detect the expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1 proteins and mRNA in pa-raffin-embedded NSCLC specimens.
Results: There were no significant differences among the MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1 expression and age, sex, histological type and differentiation. There was statistical relationship between expression of MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1 and lymph node metastasis. Multivariate Cox model analysis suggested that the survival time was significantly related to lymph node metastasis, expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9. The results of IHC and ISH suggested that the concordant rates of MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1 proteins and mRNA were of statistical significance (P < 0.01,P < 0.005,P < 0.025).
Conclusions: MMP-2 and MMP-9 are independent factors that affect prognosis, TIMP-1 is an useful parameter to the prognosis of NSCLC.