Levels of Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinases 1 in Plasma and Urine from Patients with Bladder Cancer

Matrix Metalloproteinases and Bladder Cancer: What is New?

Urothelial bladder cancer represents a heterogeneous disease with divergent pathways of tumorigenesis. Tumor invasion and progression are a multifactorial process promoted by microenvironmental changes that include overexpression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). Recent data clearly challenge the classic dogma that MMPs promote metastasis only by modulating the remodeling of extracellular matrix. Indeed, MMPs have also been attributed as an impact on tumor cell behavior in vivo as a consequence of their ability to cleave growth factors, cell surface receptors, cell adhesion molecules, and chemokines/cytokines. Levels of the different MMPs can be measured in several sample types, including tissue, blood (serum and plasma), and urine, and using different methodologies, such as immunohistochemistry, real-time PCR, western and northern blot analyses, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and zymography. Several MMPs have been identified as having potential diagnostic or prognostic utility, whether alone or in combination with cytology. Although MMP inhibitors have shown limited efficacy, advances in the understanding of the complex physiologic and pathologic roles of MMPs might permit the development of new MMP-specific and tumor-specific therapies. In this paper we update the understanding of MMPs based on a systematic PubMed search encompassing papers published up to December 2011.

Salivary tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 localization and glycosylation profile analysis

Salivary tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-1 (TIMP-1) has been associated with pathological conditions in the oral cavity, but the origin of TIMP-1 in saliva remains unknown. Hence, we studied the localization of TIMP-1 in salivary gland tissue and also investigated if TIMP-1 found in blood and saliva is identical. Human salivary gland tissue samples (four parotid gland and four submandibular gland biopsies) were analysed for the presence of TIMP-1 mRNA and protein expression. To assess TIMP-1 glycosylation profiles in blood and saliva, the protein was isolated from plasma and unstimulated and stimulated whole saliva as well as stimulated parotid and submandibular saliva and analysed by MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. TIMP-1 protein was demonstrated in mucous acinar cells of the submandibular gland and in ductal cells of both the parotid and submandibular gland. However, no TIMP-1 mRNA was detected in any of these cells. The glycosylation profiles of TIMP-1 isolated from whole saliva and saliva from the major glands were highly similar. In contrast, a significant difference was found between the glycoprofiles of salivary TIMP-1 and plasma TIMP-1. Although no clear evidence of TIMP-1 transcription in major salivary glands was demonstrated our results suggest that TIMP-1 in saliva does not originate from plasma.