• The clinical significance of MMP-9 protein level in patients with primary malignant bone tumors and its association with tumor severity, metastasis and response to chemotherapy.
  • Mohammad Amin Vaezi,1 Banafsheh Safizadeh,2 Amir Reza Eghtedari,3 Khodamorad Jamshidi,4 Masoumeh Tavakoli-Yaraki ,5,*
    1. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
    2. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
    3. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
    4. Bone and Joint Reconstruction Research Center, Shafa Orthopedic Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    5. Department of Biochemistry, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.


  • Introduction: Primary bone tumors are considered as non-frequent mesenchyme-originated solid tumors which affected individuals at all age ranges. The dynamic of bone tissue-dependent to the tissue physiological and pathological condition which makes it susceptible to cellular re-arrangement, tumor cell formation, and tumor cell implantation. Despite recent improvements regarding primary bone tumor diagnosis and therapeutic strategies, still nonspecific symptoms besides late patient referring and early detection failing are prominent drawbacks that cause cancer-induced morbidity and mortality. In the present study the expression pattern of MMP9 and its relevance to the biochemical profile and tumor pathophisiology were assessed in malignant bone tumors.
  • Methods: The number of 90 bone tumor tissues, 90 tumor margins, and 90 peripheral bloods taken from the same patients with bone tumor were enrolled in the current study with local ethical approval and informed consent. The MMP-9 expression level (protein) was evaluated using immunohistochemistry and the biochemical profile of the patients were assessed using ELISA and calorimetry. Side-to-side comparisons were conducted using the parametric unpaired t-test and nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test. The chi-square test was used to analyze the statistical differences between bone tumors and the variables (age, gender, tumor grade, tumor size, metastasis, chemotherapy status, response to therapy and tumor recurrence).
  • Results: The elevated level of MMP-9 expression was detected in bone tumors and malignant tumors compared to normal tissues. Tumor grade, size, metastasis, recurrent and the level of response to chemotherapy showed correlation with the MMP-9 protein level in malignant bone tumors. The simultaneous overexpression of MMP-9 in tumor tissues was more prominent in malignant bone tumors and correlated with tumor size, grade, metastasis, recurrent, and response to chemotherapy.
  • Conclusion: Our data emphasize the possible involvement MMP-9 as a mediator and a potential diagnostic biomarker in primary bone cancer.
  • Keywords: MMP-9, malignant bone tumors, cancer, metastasis.