What does matrix metalloproteinase-1 expression in patients with breast cancer really tell us?

Ferdinando Mannello email

BMC Medicine 2011, 9:95doi:10.1186/1741-7015-9-95
Published: 	11 August 2011
Abstract (provisional)

Molecular and biochemical expressions of matrix metalloproteinases in breast cancer tissue and cells offers promise in helping us understand the breast cancer microenvironment, and also in the future it is hoped this will improve its detection, treatment and prognosis. In a retrospective study recently published in BMC Cancer, the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and its correlation with well-known biochemical, molecular and clinicopathologic factors in breast cancer cells and cancer-associated stromal cells was examined; this study also analyzed patient survival in different breast cancer subtypes. The positive correlation in breast tumor and stromal cells between MMP-1 expression and several markers of tumor grade and stage, provide us some useful new insights into the important questions about the molecular profiling of stromal microenvironment in metastatic breast cancer. The study showed that MMP-1 expression is strongly associated with poor clinical outcome, so now we look forward to future larger studies in breast cancer patients to which we can relate wider MMP molecular profiling to identify lethal tumor and stromal microenvironment predisposing to breast cancer progression, metastatic behaviour and poor prognosis. Please see related article http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2407/11/348
The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production. 
