Objective: To conduct a metaanalysis in order to determine the association between matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 expression and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) progression.
Study design: Cohort studies were identified after an exhaustive search of the following electronic databases: PubMed, China Biomedicine, Web of Science, Wanfang database, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure. Summary odds ratios with 95% confidence interval were calculated.
Results: Seventeen clinical studies were eligible for the present metaanalysis. Overall, increased MMP-2 protein expression levels had a positive correlation with several RCC clinical parameters, such as tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, differentiation grade, lymph node metastasis (LNM), and tumor size (all p < 0.05). Country-stratified analysis revealed statistically significant differences in MMP-2 expression levels, based on the 4 clinical parameters studied, in the Chinese population (all p < 0.05). The results indicated that the MMP-2 protein level in RCC patients with non-clear cell type was higher than that in the patients with clear cell carcinoma (p < 0.05). A positive correlation was found between RCC differentiation grade and MMP-2 protein levels in only the streptavidin-peroxidase subgroup (p < 0.05), while there were significant associations between MMP-2 protein level and TNM stage, LNM, and tumor size (p < 0.05).
Conclusion: Our metaanalysis suggests that RCC patients with a high MMP-2 expression level exhibit rapid progression of RCC and that high MMP-2 expression level is associated with poor prognosis.