Study on the relationship between the clinical stage and expression of MMPs and TIMPs in endometriosis.

Objective To study the expression of ma tr ix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2)and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2(T IMP-2)in endometriosis (EMs) and to discuss the role in the occurrence and dev elopment of EMs. Methods Immunohistochemistry S-P meth od was employed to detect the expression of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 in the ectopic en dometrium of the patients(50 cases), the eutopic endometrium of the patients w ith endometriosis(20 cases). Results The positive exp ressions of MMP-2 in the ectopic endometrium was 41 in 50 cases of the patients with endometriosis, the positive expression rate was 82%. But the expressions o f MMP-2 in the eutopic endometrium of 2 in 20 cases were positive; the positive expression rate was 10%. There was extremely difference between the two groups (P 0.01). The expression of MMP-2 was up-regulated with the increasing cl inical stage of endometriosis, but the expression of TIMP-1 was down-regulated with the increasing clinical stage. The difference has statistic significance i n MMP-2 and TIMP-2(P0.05). Conclusions The inc reasing expression of MMP-2 and the decreasing expression of TIMP-2 may be key role in occurrence and development of EMs, and the unbalanced expression degree could act as an index to evaluate the progress and prognosis in endometriosis.