Invasiveness of cutaneous malignant melanoma is influenced by Matrix Metalloproteinase 1 gene polymorphism

The matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are implicated in connective tissue de struction during cancer invasion and metastasis. A naturally occurring vari ant arising from the insertion or deletion of a guanine in the promoter of the MMP-1 gene has recently been reported and shown to influence its transc riptional activity in melanoma cells. In this study, MMP-1 genotype was det ermined in 139 Caucasian patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma, The in sertion allele was associated with deep invasive. and therefore poorer-prog nosis, primary tumors [(34% of patients with vertical growth phase tumor we re homozygous for the insertion allele compared with 17% of patients with h orizontal growth phase tumor (P = 0.0333; odds ratio = 2.51)], These data s uggest that the invasiveness of cutaneous malignant melanoma is influenced by variation in the MMP-1 gene promoter that affects MMP-1 expression.