Activated Salivary MMP-2 - A Potential Breast Cancer Marker

Abstract

It has been reported that Matrixmetalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) is involved in the pathogenesis of cancer. The over expression of MMP-2 is associated with the progression of malignancy of several types of carcinoma. Human saliva is a biological fluid with several advantages for non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of diseases. The aim of this study was to detect MMPs expression and activity in biological fluids (saliva, urine etc.) derived from breast cancer patients. Here, our results showed that the activity of MMP-2 was higher at the time before the surgery than after the saliva collected from the same patients. Therefore, we suggested that the highly active form of MMP-2 presented in saliva could be used as a novel potential biomarker for non-invasive diagnosis of breast cancer.