Epidemiological Evidence Between Variants in Matrix Metalloproteinases-2, -7, and -9 and Cancer Risk

Abstract

BackgroundMatrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a kind of proteases, have a critical function in cancer occurrence, invasion, and migration. MMP gene variants (e.g., MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9) can affect the biological functions of these enzymes and lead to the occurrence and progression of cancer, which has become a hot topic in recent years, but the corresponding results are still controversial. In this context, here, the meta-analysis was conducted for assessing the relations of variants in MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9 with the risk of various cancers.MethodsPubMed, Web of Science, and Medline were systemically searched, and data were extracted from all eligible studies so as to investigate the susceptibility of MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9 to different types of cancers. The association between a variant in MMP and cancer susceptibility was analyzed through odds ratios (ORs) as well as 95% CIs. The Venice criteria and false-positive report probability (FPRP) were adopted to evaluate epidemiological evidence of significant associations discovered.ResultsThe associations between the variants of MMPs and cancer risk in 36,530 cases and 41,258 controls were found, with 12 associations (MMP-2 rs243865 with esophageal cancer and lung cancer, MMP-7 rs11568818 with bladder and cervical cancer, and MMP-9 rs3918242 with breast cancer) rated as strong associations for cancer risk and 7 and 15 as moderate and weak associations, respectively. These significant associations were mostly found in Asians.ConclusionsThese findings support the relations between variants of MMP-2, MMP-7, and MMP-9 and various cancers risk, demonstrating the credibility of these relations.