The promoter polymorphism of the matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3) gene in women with ovarian cancer.

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) comprise family proteolytic enzymes that degrade extracellular matrix components and therefore play an important role in tumour cell invasion and cancer metastasis. Overexpression of matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3 or stromelysin 1) gene has been demonstrated in various types of cancers and high level of MMP-3 protein in tumour is a poor prognostic factor for patients. The insertion (6A)/deletion (5A) polymorphism (5A/6A polymorphism) located at the promoter of the MMP-3 gene may have functional significance in the regulation of its expression. In the present work the distribution of genotypes and frequencies of alleles of the 5A/6A polymorphism in subjects with ovarian cancer were investigated. Paraffin embedded tumour tissues were obtained from 100 women with ovarian cancer. The genotypes of 5A/6A polymorphism were determined by PCR amplification using the allele specific primers. The distribution of the genotypes of the 5A/6A polymorphism in both control and patients did not differ significantly (p > 0.05) from those predicted by the Hardy-Weinberg distribution. Additionally, there were no significant differences (p > 0.05) in genotype distributions and allele frequencies between subgroups assigned to histological stage. The results suggest that the 5A/6A polymorphism of MMP-3 gene may not be linked with appearance and development to ovarian cancer.