The aim of this study was to investigate the effect and mechanism of Helicobacter pylori infection in the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer. Specimens from 80 patients with gastric cancer (of which 20 patients had metastatic gastric cancer) and 40 patients with chronic gastritis were included in this study. H. pylori infection was determined by ELISA and the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and MMP-10 was observed using immunohistochemistry. The correlation between H. pylori infection and the clinical pathological features of gastric cancer was analyzed by SPSS 13.0 software. The protein expression levels of MMP-1 and MMP-10 in MGC-803 cells infected with H. pylori were analyzed using western blotting. H. pylori infection was found in 62 of the 80 patients with gastric cancer and in 13 of the 40 patients with chronic gastritis. In addition, H. pylori infection was correlated with the staging and lymph node metastasis, but not with the gender, age and histological types of patients. H. pylori infection was also significantly correlated with the expression of MMP-1 and MMP-10 (r=0.8718, P<0.05 and r=0.5477, P<0.05, respectively). The expression of MMP-1 and MMP-10 was significantly upregulated following induction by H. pylori infection (P<0.05), with significant effects occurring following infection for 12 and 6 h, respectively. H. pylori infection may promote the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer by increasing the expression of MMP-1 and MMP-10.
Keywords: Helicobacter pylori; gastric cancer; matrix metalloproteinase-1; matrix metalloproteinase-10; metastasis.