Objective: To study the role of membrane-type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT(1)-MMP) in the invasion and metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and find a method to judge the invasion and metastasis of HCC through MT(1)-MMP.
Methods: RT-PCR was used to study the expression of MT(1)-MMP mRNA in the HCC and in HCC nude mice model with higher metastasis potential (LCI-D20) and lower metastasis potential (LCI-35), and statistical methods were used to analyse the association between the expression of MT(1)-MMP mRNA and the pathological indexes of HCC.
Results: MT(1)-MMP mRNA was expressed by all the normal liver tissue (1.12 +/- 0.73), HCC (3.51 +/- 0.97), surrounding liver parenchyma (1.19 +/- 0.57), tumor embolus, and HCC nude mice model with LCI-D20, LCI-D35. The overexpression of MT(1)-MMP mRNA in HCC, embolus, LCI-D20 was related to the invasion and metastasis of HCC. The expression of MT(1)-MMP mRNA in HCC being higher than that in surrounding liver parenchyma was an important index to judge the invasion and metastasis of the HCC.
Conclusion: MT(1)-MMP is related to the invasion and metastasis of HCC. The expression of MT(1)-MMP mRNA in HCC being higher than that in surrounding liver parenchyma could be acted as an important index to judge the invasion and metastasis of HCC.