MMP14 regulates cell migration and invasion through epithelial-mesenchymal transition in nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Matrix metalloproteinase 14 (MMP14) has been shown to play a significant role in several types of cancers, but little is known about the function of MMP14 in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) carcinogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of MMP14 in NPC using NPC tumor samples or tissue microarray. We have shown that MMP14 was increased in NPC samples compared with normal nasopharynx (NP) tissues in microarray data (GSE13597). Both MMP14 mRNA and protein expression were markedly higher in NPC tissues than in NP tissues. High levels of MMP14 protein were found positively correlate with the status of late clinical stages of tumor and tumor with lymph node metastasis. Moreover, we have shown that MMP14 expression promoted the cell migration and invasion of NPC cells in vitro and regulated the expression of EMT-associated genes. Our data demonstrated that MMP14 plays an important role in regulation of migration and invasion of NPC cells, and constitutes a potential novel therapeutic target for NPC.