MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 in the Peripheral Blood of Patients with Differentiated Thyroid Carcinoma

Figures & data

Table 1 The Primers for MMPs, TIMPs, and β-Actin

	Sense Strand	Antisense Strand	Product (bp)
MMP-2	5ʹ-TGGCACCCATTTACACCTAC-3’	5ʹ-CCTCGTATACCGCATCAATC-3’	315
MMP-9	5ʹ-CCTTCTACGGCCACTACTGT-3’	5ʹ-TCCACCTGGTTCAACTCACT-3’	575
TIMP-1	5ʹ-ACTTCCACAGGTCCCACAAC-3’	5ʹ-AGAAAGATGGGAGTGGGAAC-3’	405
TIMP-2	5ʹ-CAGAGAAGAACATCAACGGG-3’	5ʹ-CGAAGCCCCAGACACATAGA-3’	369
β-actin	5ʹ-GGGACGACATGGAGAAAATC-3’	5ʹ-GATCTGGGTCATCTTCTCGC-3’	131

Table 2 MMPs and TIMPs in the Peripheral Blood of Patients with DTC and Benign Thyroid Tumors)

		MMP-2 (ng/mL)	MMP-9 (ng/mL)	TIMP-1 (ng/mL)	TIMP-2 (ng/mL)
Benign thyroid tumors (n=49)	Preoperative	38.25±15.20^c	47.60±20.10^c	53.71±32.49^c	49.81±17.26^c
Postoperative	35.20±17.70^d	43.27±10.27^d	55.15±13.74^d	50.78±14.23^d
DTC (n=57)	Preoperative	100.24±27.32^a	134.70±32.52^a	117.78±26.53^a	89.43±18.05^a
Postoperative	42.71±16.20^b	51.46±18.34^b	48.43±13.02^b	52.36±12.27^b
Healthy individuals (n=20)		30.25±11.70	40.52±10.20	47.10±12.30	46.74±12.53

Notes: ^aCompared with healthy individuals and benign thyroid tumors, P<0.05. ^bCompared with DTC patients prior to surgery, P<0.05. ^cCompared with healthy individuals, P>0.05. ^dCompared with benign thyroid tumor patients prior to surgery, P>0.05.

Figure 1 The expression levels of MMPs and TIMPs in patients with benign thyroid tumors were not significantly different from those in healthy persons, and there was no significant change after surgery (P>0.05). The expression levels of TIMPs and MMPs in DTC patients before surgery were significantly higher than those in benign thyroid tumor patients and healthy people. The expression levels of TIMPs and MMPs after surgery were significantly lower (*P<0.05).

Figure 2 The PCR results for MMPs and TIMPs. Agarose gel electrophoresis showing that the lengths of the mRNA fragments of MMP-2, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 were 320 bp, 582 bp, 405 bp, and 372 bp, respectively. The PCR bands of MMPs and TIMPs in patients with DTC were the brightest; after surgery, the brightness of these bands was significantly reduced. Moreover, there were no significant differences compared with the control group and the benign thyroid tumor group. 1: β-actin; 2: healthy individual; 3: benign thyroid tumor (prior to surgery); 4: benign thyroid tumor (after surgery); 5: DTC (prior to surgery); 6: DTC (after surgery).

Table 3 Clinicopathological Features of DTC and the Levels of MMPs and TIMPs in Peripheral Blood)

Pathological Characteristics		n	MMP-2	MMP-9	TIMP-1	TIMP-2
(ng/mL)	(ng/mL)	(ng/mL)	(ng/mL)
TNM	Phase I	17	80.14±17.30	108.43±21.30	78.44±20.37	62.23±21.52
Phase II, III	40	140.57±32.30^a	157.20±24.58^a	130.27±28.43^a	102.17±23.38^a
Tumor size	<1.0 cm	10	76.54±20.32	90.28±26.30	86.27±20.30	60.49±21.30
≥1.0 cm	47	143.27±27.54^b	148.24±31.46^b	140.42±28.19^b	112.20±29.58^b
Extent of infiltration	Limited to the thyroid	41	75.24±25.37	101.27±25.32	102.63±20.49	58.47±23.57
Outside the thyroid	16	147.19±26.33^c	156.36±17.54^c	154.24±26.50^c	119.43±19.35^c
Lymph metastasis	No	37	81.46±20.39	91.20±21.52	100.20±20.73	59.71±16.33
Yes	20	152.28±24.62^d	150.98±26.74^d	152.23±21.27^d	120.20±22.36^d

Notes: ^aCompared with Phase I, P<0.05. ^bCompared with patients with tumor size <1.0 cm, P<0.05. ^cCompared with patients with tumor limit in thyroid, P<0.05. ^dCompared with patients without lymph metastasis, P<0.05.