Abstract:

Objective　To explore the correlation between neck lymph node metastasis and matrix metalloproteinase-2 expres- sion at the invasive tumor front of oral squamous cell carcinomas(OSCC).Methods　Immunohistochemistry LsAB technique was used to observe the expression of MMP-2 at the invasive tumor front and center of OSCC, and the correlation between the expres- sion ofMMP-2 in OSCC and neck lymph node metastasiswere respectively analyzed by statistics.Results　The results demonstrat- ed thatMMP-2 existed in all 71 cases, which the expression ofMMP-2 at the OSCC frontwas more significant than that ofMMP-2 at the OSCC center (P<0.01), and related to neck lymph node metastasis (P<0.05).Conclusion　The expression ofMMP- 2 at the OSCC front could be considered as an index of judging the present of neck lymph node metastasis of OSCC.

Key words: oral cancer, matrix metalloproteinase-2, lymph node metastasis, tumor invasion