Clinicopathological significance of the gene expression of matrix metalloproteinase-7, insulin-like growth factor-1, insulin-like growth factor-2 and insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor in patients with colorectal cancer: insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor gene expression is a useful predictor of liver metastasis from colorectal cancer.
Interestingly, the levels of Tbeta-4 mRNA, beta-catenin, c-Myc, and MMP-7 in metastatic liver lesions were relatively higher, whereas the levels of E-cadherin and Fas were significantly lower than those in the matched primary colorectal tumors.
These results suggest that matrilysin gene expression by colon adenocarcinoma cells is not sufficient for tumor invasion and metastasis but contributes to the tumorigenicity and progression of colorectal tumors.
These results suggest that matrilysin mRNA expression was correlated with the progression of colorectal tumors, and this enzyme may also play a role in developing metastatic tumors in liver.
We investigated expression levels, localization, and proteolytic activity of MMP-7 and local caseinolytic activity in colorectal tumor and paired normal tissues by using real time PCR, casein zymography, immunohistochemistry and in situ casein zymography, respectively.