Increased expression and activation of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) in O-1N: hamster oral squamous cell carcinoma with high potential lymph node metastasis

Oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is one of the most common head and neck cancers with poor clinical outcome. MMP-2 was implied to contribute to the invasiveness and metastatization of various malignancies because of the degradation of type IV collagen. In this experiment, ELISA, Western blot and Q-RT-PCR was performed to investigate the expression and activation of MMP-2 in serum and tumor from hamster oral cancer model with high lymph node metastasis based on the various stages of OSCC development. Active MMP-2 in the serum was found elevated during oral cancer progression. In the metastatic stage, total MMP-2 level was 46% higher than it in the expansive stage, while active MMP-2 level increased 6-fold than it in the expansive stage. MMP-2 serum activation ratio was significantly enhanced in the metastatic stage than before tumor transplantation and that in the expansive stage. MMP-2 protein and MMP-2 mRNA was found to be increased during oral cancer development in hamster models. The increase of MMP-2 expression and activation starts prior to the metastasis occurrence, indicating the important role of MMP-2 in the early phase of oral cancer progression. Active MMP-2 level in serum may be a useful indicator for monitoring oral cancer progression.