Abstract
BackgroundBreast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in females worldwide. Previous studies have demonstrated that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play key roles in metastasis and are associated with survival in various cancers. The prognostic values of MMP2 and MMP9 expression in BC have been investigated, but the results remain controversial. Thus, we performed the present meta-analysis to investigate the associations between MMP2/9 expressions in tumor cells with clinicopathologic features and survival outcome in BC patients.MethodsEligible studies were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, EMBASE, CNKI and Wanfang databases. The associations of MMP2/9 overexpression in tumor cells with overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were assessed by hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The associations of MMP2/9 overexpression with clinicopathological features were investigated by calculating odds ratio (OR) and 95% CI. Subgroup analysis, sensitivity analysis, meta-regression, and analysis for publication bias were performed.ResultsA total of 41 studies comprising 6517 patients with primary BC were finally included. MMP2 overexpression was associated with an unfavorable OS (HR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.33 –1.94, P < 0.001) while MMP9 overexpression predicted a shorter OS (HR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.30 –1.77, P < 0.001). MMP2 overexpression conferred a higher risk to distant metastasis (OR = 2.69, 95% CI 1.35–5.39, P = 0.005) and MMP9 overexpression correlated with lymph node metastasis (OR = 2.90, 95% CI 1.86 – 4.53, P < 0.001). Moreover, MMP2 and MMP9 overexpression were both associated with higher clinical stage and histological grade in BC patients. MMP9 overexpression was more frequent in patients with larger tumor sizes.ConclusionsTumoral MMP2 and MMP9 are promising markers for predicting the prognosis in patients with BC.
Highlights
Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in females worldwide
27 studies were excluded as they detected MMP2/MMP9 expression in serum (n = 17) or cytosol tumor extracts (n = 1) or in stromal cells (n = 1), investigated mRNA expression (n = 4), duplicated with others (n = 4)
MMP9 overexpression and survival We found an association between MMP9 overexpression and disease-free survival (DFS) that almost reached significance (HR = 1.73, 95%confidence interval (CI) 0.99–3.01, P = 0.052), whereas subgroup of univariate and multivariate analysis both suggested a shorter DFS (P = 0.034 and 0.006, respectively)
Summary
Breast cancer (BC) is a leading cause of cancer-related death in females worldwide. Previous studies have demonstrated that matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play key roles in metastasis and are associated with survival in various cancers. We performed the present meta-analysis to investigate the associations between MMP2/9 expressions in tumor cells with clinicopathologic features and survival outcome in BC patients. Breast cancer (BC) is the most prevalent malignancy and one of the leading causes of cancer-related death among females worldwide [1]. The overproduction or increased activity of MMP2/9 leads to the degradation of ECM and BM, allowing for the invasion of tumor cells to other tissues and tumor cell metastasis to distant organs [8]. MMP2/9 have been implicated in cancer development and progression through their functions in cell apoptosis, proliferation, and angiogenesis [9,10,11]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
