DETECTION OF MATRIX METALLOPROTEINASE ACTIVITY IN HUMAN PANCREATIC-CANCER

Destruction of the basement membrane (BM) is mandatory for tumor sprea d, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are known to be implicated in colon cancer invasion and metastasis by digesting type IV collagen, a main component of the BM. The current study analyzed the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in pancreatic cancer tissues. Frozen specimens of pan creatic cancer (n = 10), a liver metastatic nodule from pancreatic can cer (n = 1), and normal pancreas (n = 3) were homogenized and analyzed by zymography. The activated form of MMP-8 (82 kDa) was detected in a ll of the normal and malignant tissues, while the activated form of MM P-2 (62 kDa) was detected in all of the pancreatic cancers and its met astatic tissue, but not in the normal pancreatic tissues. These result s indicate that expression of the activated form of MMP-2 may be speci fic to pancreatic cancer, while that of MMP-9 may be unrelated to it.