European Journal of Gynaecological Oncology (EJGO) is published by IMR Press from Volume 40 Issue 1 (2019). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with S.O.G.
Expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 in preinvasive and invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix
Purpose: To study the immunohistochemical expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in preinvasive and invasive carcinoma of the uterine cervix so as to demonstrate whether the expression of MMP-2 is an early or late event in the process of dedifferentiation and cancer progression. Methods: A total number of 50 samples of cervical tissue were studied for MMP-2 immunoreactivity. The cases were selected to include ten normal cases used as a control group, 20 CIN cases and 20 cervical carcinoma cases. The CIN group was subdivided into CINI (n = 7), CIN2 (n = 6) and CIN3 (n = 7), while the carcinoma group was represented by squamous cell carcinoma (n = 16) and adenocarcinoma (n = 4). Results: MMP-2 expression was totally absent in control cervices and low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions, while high-grade squamous intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive carcinoma showed up-regulation of MMP-2 expression with no significant difference concerning the type of carcinoma. This overexpression of MMP-2 points to the possibility that it is an early marker of tumor progression in cervical carcinoma. Conclusion: MMP-2 has a key role in extracellular matrix degradation and invasion in carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Its expression in high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesions may denote a potential risk for invasion and metastasis.