The Contribution of MMP-7 Promoter Polymorphisms to Taiwan Lung Cancer Susceptibility

Matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) plays an important role in metastasis behavior of cancer cells, and overexpression of MMP-7 has been associated with poor prognosis in non-small cell lung cancer. However, the contribution of various genotypes of MMP-7 has not yet been investigated in lung cancer in Taiwan. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the association of MMP-7 genotypes with lung cancer risk among the Taiwanese.

In this hospital-based case-control study, genotypes and distributions at two promoter sites of MMP-7, A-181G and C-153T, were determined, and their association with lung cancer risk in Taiwan was evaluated among 358 lung cancer patients and 716 age- and gender-matched healthy control individuals. In addition, the interaction of MMP-7 genotypes and smoking status were also examined.

The percentages of variant AG and GG at MMP-7 A-181G in the lung cancer group were similar to the control group (12.8% and 2.3% vs. 11.3% and 1.5%, respectively; p_trend=0.5294). The allelic frequency distribution analysis showed that the variant G allele at MMP-7 A-181G conferred non-significant elevated lung cancer risk compared to the wild-type A allele [odds ratio (OR)=1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.85-1.66, p=0.2289]. As for the genotypes of MMP-7 C-153T, all the studied Taiwanese population was of CC genotype. Furthermore, there was no obvious joint effect of MMP-7 A-181G genotype and smoking status on the lung cancer risk. No statistically significant correlation was observed between MMP-7 A-181G genotype distributions and gender.

There was no evidence that the genotypes of MMP-7 A-181G may act as a biomarker in determining personal susceptibility to lung cancer in Taiwan.