Matrix Mettaloproteinase 3 A Potential Biomarker For...

Matrix mettaloproteinase-3 as a potential biomarker for human metastatic osteosarcoma or Elevated expression of MMP-3 in human osteosarcoma and associated with tumor metastasis Abstract: Matrix metalloproteinase-3 (MMP-3, is one of several matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) family that has been observed in several malignant tumors, including breast, colon, cervical and lung cancers, where its expression correlates with the invasion and metastasis of these tumors. However, the roles of MMP-3 in osteosarcoma are totally unknown. In this study, we examined the expression of MMP-3 in 15 primary and metastatic osteosarcomas with case-matched adjacent normal tissues by immunohistochemistry and quantitative RT-PCR. MMP-3 expression were expressed in 86.6 % (13/15) of the osteosarcoma tissues and the expression levels of MMP-3 were significantly higher in metastatic tumors than in primary osteosarcoma tumor tissues. Further, we investigated the expression of MMP-3 in osteoblast and osteosarcoma cells and found that MMP-3 was highly expressed in osteosarcoma cells compared to osteoblast cells. Knockdown of MMP-3 by siRNA in osteosarcoma cells significantly inhibited their migra tion and invasion properties. These findings suggest that MMP-3 expression is deregulated in osteosarcoma tumors, potentially contributing to metastasis and might be a promising marker for the prognosis and therapy of metastatic osteosarcoma. Key words: Osteosarcoma, MMP-3, metastasis, EMT and invasion