Comparative study of stromal metalloproteases expression in patients with benign hyperplasia and prostate cancer

Purpose The aim of the present work was to perform a comparative study of stromal cell expressions of MMPs and TIMPs between benign and malignant prostate tissues. Methods An immunohistochemical study was performed using specific antibodies against metalloproteases (MMPs) -1, -2, -7, 9, 11, 13, 14 and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) -1, 2 and 3, on prostate specimens from 133 patients with clinical localized prostate carcinoma and from 50 patients with BPH. Results Our results showed higher percentages of expressions of MMPs and TIMPs by fibroblasts or by mononuclear inflammatory cells (MICs) in prostate carcinomas compared to these cells in BPH. The detection of MMP-2 expression by stromal fibroblasts and/or MMP-2, 9 and TIMP-3 expression by stromal MICs was associated with a 100% of specificity for diagnoses of prostate cancer. We found that the combination of MMP-2 expression by fibroblasts and/or MMP-9 by MICs and/or TIMP-2 by MICs yielded a sensitivity of 47.4%. Conclusions Despite of a limited sensitivity (50%), the combination of MMP-TIMPs expression in stromal cells (MMP-2 by fibroblasts and TIMPs by MICs) in our study provided a specificity of 100% for prostate cancer diagnosis.