Expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma / 临床耳鼻咽喉头颈外科杂志

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE@#To study the expression of tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (TIMP2)in the nasopharyngeal carcinoma and to evaluate the relationships between the expression of TIMP2 and biological behavior of NPC.@*METHOD@#The expression of TIMP2 was observed by immunohistochemical technique in 50 cases with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and 15 cases of Inflammation nasopharyngeal tissues.@*RESULT@#The positive rates of TIMP2 are significantly higher in NPC than in Inflammation tissues (P 0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#The results indicate that TIMP2 may play a critical role in assisting carcinoma cell to degrade basement membrane to invade surrounding tissues and to form metastatic colonies in lymph node. Especially the unbalance in MMP2/TIMP2 has probably a prognostic value in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.