Membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) has been demonstrated to play an important role in
tumor progression. The aim of the present study was to analyze the expression of
MT1-MMP in
breast cancer and its correlation with clinicopathologic characteristics, including the survival of
breast cancer patients. In our results, MT-MMP1 was up-expressed in
breast cancer tissues compared with ductal
hyperplasia tissues in microarray data (GSE2429).
MT1-MMP mRNA and
protein expression was markedly higher in
breast cancer tissues than in normal breast tissues (P=0.005 and P=0.037, respectively). Using immunohistochemistry, high levels of
MT1-MMP protein were positively correlated with the status of clinical stage (I-II
vs. III-IV; P=0.043),
lymph node metastasis (absence vs. presence; P=0.024), and distant
metastasis (No vs. Yes; P=0.017) of
breast cancer patients. Patients with higher
MT1-MMP expression had a significantly shorter overall survival time than did patients with low
MT1-MMP expression. Multivariate analysis indicated that the level of
MT1-MMP expression was an independent prognostic
indicator (P<0.001) for the survival of patients with
breast cancer. In conclusions,
MT1-MMP plays an important role on
breast cancer aggressiveness and prognosis and may act as a promising target for prognostic prediction.