We investigated whether the abnormal expression of E-cadherin (ECD), in conjunction with the overexpression of matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7), is correlated with clinicopathological parameters such as metastasis and the prognosis for human gastric carcinoma. Using RT-PCR, we examined the expression of ECD and MMP-7 mRNA in 42 gastric carcinoma tissues and in the surrounding non-neoplastic mucosa. The macroscopic and histopathological tumor findings and the survival rates were obtained from the patient records. The level of ECD mRNA expression was lower in most of the neoplasms as compared to the corresponding non-neoplastic tissues (50 vs. 80.9%, respectively). The abnormal expression of ECD mRNA was significantly correlated to the microscopic classification and lymph node metastases (p<0.05), and its stage (p<0.05). The level of MMP-7 mRNA expression was higher in most neoplasms compared to the corresponding non-neoplastic tissues (66.6 vs. 50%, respectively). The overexpression of MMP-7 mRNA was significantly correlated with the microscopic classification, lymph node metastases (p<0.05), and its stage (p<0.01). However, a correlation between the abnormal expression of ECD and the overexpression of MMP-7 was not obtained. The survival rate of the patients with an ECD mRNA expression was longer than that of the patients without this expression, but this finding was not statistically significant (p=0.2162). The survival rates of patients with MMP-7 mRNA expression was significantly shorter than that of the patients without MMP-7 mRNA expression (p=0.0025). Overexpression of MMP-7 may be considered as a useful marker for determining metastasis and the prognosis of human gastric carcinoma rather than the abnormal expression of E-cadherin.

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