ISSN: 1837-9664Journal of Cancer
Global reach, higher impact
J Cancer 2020; 11(20):6009-6018. doi:10.7150/jca.46977 This issue Cite
Research Paper
Combination of serum matrix metalloproteinase-3 activity and EBV antibodies improves the diagnostic performance of nasopharyngeal carcinoma
1. Department of Microbial and Biochemical Pharmacy, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, No.132 Waihuandong Road, University Town, Guangzhou 510006, China.
2. Department of anatomy, Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan 453700, China.
3. State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Diagnosis and Therapy, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou 510060, China.
#These authors contributed equally to this work.
Abstract
Objective: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is a malignant head and neck tumor that is highly prevalent in Southeast Asia. The two traditional NPC markers VCA-IgA (EBV viral capsid antigen) and EA-IgA (EBV early antigen) are limited in the screening and diagnosis of NPC. The purpose of present study is to evaluate the diagnostic value of matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP3) in NPC.
Methods: The levels of 23 secretory MMPs in serum samples from 15 healthy controls and 26 NPC patients were detected by Cytokine Antibody Array 2000. Immunohistochemistry, Real-time PCR and western bolt were used to detect MMP3 mRNA and protein levels in NPC tissues and cell lines. The serum protein levels of MMP3 were further measured by ELISA in healthy control individuals (n = 200) and NPC patients (n = 206).
Results: MMP3 can be expressed and secreted by both NPC and fibroblast cell lines, suggesting that the higher expression of MMP3 protein in both tumor nests and stromal of NPC tissues may be the source of circulating MMP3 in NPC patients. Furthermore, we found out both MMP3 concentration and enzymatic activity were significantly increased in the NPC group (n = 206) than the healthy control group (n = 200) (P < 0.001). However, serum MMP3 enzymatic activity, but not MMP3 concentration, was significantly associated with the progression of NPC. In addition, serum MMP3 activity was more valuable in diagnosis of NPC than its concentration (0.86 vs. 0.78, AUC), and MMP3 activity can improve the diagnosis of NPC by combining with EBV-infection biomarkers VCA-IgA and EA-IgA with a sensitivity of 91.5% and a specificity of 92.3%.
Conclusions: This study suggested the combination of MMP3 activity and EBV antibodies may be a useful biomarker for screening and diagnosis of NPC.
Keywords: matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP3), cancer metastasis, enzymatic activity, nasopharyngeal carcinoma diagnosis, tumor serum marker
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