The expression of MMP19 and its clinical significance in glioma

Aims: The expression of phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (MMP19) is elevated in some cancers. However, the clinical features and prognostic value of glioma patients with MMP19 expression are unclear. In this study, the expression level of MMP19 and the correlation between the level of MMP19 expression and the clinicopathologic data in glioma patients including survival were examined.

Methods and results: Using real-time PCR, the mRNA expression of MMP19 was examined in 61 fresh glioma tissues and 32 brain samples. The result indicated that MMP19 mRNA was obviously elevated in glioma tissues compared to brain tissues. Further, we observed that MMP19 mRNA was much higher in stage III patients than it was in stage I-II patients. The expression of the MMP19 protein was determined by immunohistochemical analysis in 156 paraffin-embedded glioma samples and 35 normal paraffin-embedded brain samples. The MMP19 protein level was significantly increased in glioma tissues compared to brain tissues (P = 0.008). Furthermore, we observed that a high expression of MMP19 protein was positively associated with clinical stage (P = 0.008) but did not correlate with age, gender, or histological type. An increased MMP19 protein expression was associated with poor overall survival rates (P = 0.001). A stratified analysis showed that patients with high MMP19 protein expression indicated a worse prognosis occurring in WHO III-IV stages (P = 0.001). A Multivariate analysis indicated that a high expression of the MMP19 protein was an independent prognostic indicator of patient survival (P = 0.009).

Conclusions: MMP19 is overexpressed and plays a significant role in disease progression and poor outcome in glioma patients.