Study of Correlation between Prostate Specific Antigen and Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 Activity in Benign and Malignant Prostate Hyperplasia

There are emerging data on novel tumor markers such as matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2 or gelatinase-A), which play a key role in tissue invasion and metastasis. We designed an investigation to assess the usefulness of MMP-2 activity as compared to prostate specific antigen (PSA) in cancer staging process. We have analyzed the circulating form of MMP-2 in serum samples of patients suffering from either benign prostate hyperplasia (BPH, n = 54) or prostate cancer (PC, n = 26), and prostatitis (n = 4) as compared to control normal individual (n = 26), respectively. Protein-content adjusted samples were separated by gelatin-embedded polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis then were subjected to densitometric analysis. Total PSA (tPSA) and free PSA (fPSA) were quantified using a standard ELISA technique. Correlation coefficient (r) between tPSA and MMP-2 activity in patient group was +0.938 and in controls group was 0.799 ( P <0.01). In addition, (r) between tPSA and MMP-2 activity in PC patients was 0.940 and in BPH patients was 0.962 ( P <0.01). (r) between fPSA and MMP2 activity in PC patients was 0.913, in BPH patients was 0.644, and in prostatitis patients was -0.994 (P <0.01). These results demonstrate that MMP-2, compared to PSA, might be considered as a better tumor marker in monitoring and screening patients with PC.