Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 27, 2026

Tissue Engineering of Tumor Stromal Microenvironment with Application to Cancer Cell Invasion
Published on: March 18, 2014
Missense polymorphisms in matrix metalloproteinase genes and skin cancer risk
Hongmei Nan1, Tianhua Niu, David J Hunter
1Program in Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. hnan@hsph.harvard.edu
Abstract:
Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) degrade various components of the extracellular matrix, and their overexpression has been implicated in tumor progression. Nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) lead to amino acid substitutions that can alter the function of the encoded protein. We evaluated the associations of six nonsynonymous SNPs in the MMP3, MMP8, and MMP9 genes with skin cancer risk in a nested case-control study of Caucasians within the Nurses' Health Study among 218 melanoma cases, 285 squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) cases, 300 basal cell carcinoma (BCC) cases, and 870 normal controls. We observed that the MMP9 Arg668Gln polymorphism was significantly associated with a decreased risk of SCC. Compared with the Arg/Arg group, the multivariate odds ratio was 0.67 (95% confidence interval, 0.47-0.97) for the Arg/Gln group and 0.21 (95% confidence interval, 0.05-0.97) for the Gln/Gln group (P(trend) = 0.004). We did not observe any association of this SNP with the risks of melanoma and basal cell carcinoma. No associations were found for other SNPs with skin cancer risk. This study provides evidence for the contribution of the MMP9 Arg668Gln to SCC development.
Related Concept Videos
Mismatch Repair
The Mutator Protein Family Plays a Key Role in DNA Mismatch Repair
The human genome has more than 3 billion base pairs of DNA per cell. Prior to cell division, that vast amount of genetic...
Mismatch Repair
Role of Matrix Metalloproteases in Degradation of ECM
A...
Pharmacogenetic Phenotypes: Alterations in Pharmacokinetics, Drug Targets and Biologic Milieu
Skin Cancer
Basal Cell Carcinoma (BCC): BCC is the most common type of skin cancer, accounting for about 80% of cases. It typically develops in...
Mutations