MMP16 is a marker of poor prognosis in gastric cancer promoting proliferation and invasion

// Li Cao 1 , Chaowu Chen 2 , Haihang Zhu 2 , Xuewen Gu 1 , Denghao Deng 2 , Xiuchun Tian 1 , Jun Liu 2 , Qin Xiao 1 1 Department of Pathology, Clinical Medical College of Yangzhou University, Subei People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China 2 Department of Gastroenterology, Clinical Medical College of Yangzhou University, Subei People’s Hospital of Jiangsu Province, Yangzhou, Jiangsu 225001, P.R. China Correspondence to: Chaowu Chen, email: doctorchencw@163.com Keywords: gastric cancer, MMP16, survival analysis, proliferation, invasion Received: March 30, 2016     Accepted: June 06, 2016     Published: June 20, 2016 ABSTRACT Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are closely associated with tumor proliferation, invasion and metastasis. In this study, we determined the MMPs expression and their clinical significances in gastric cancer (GC). We first extensive studied MMPs expression in GC in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) RNA sequence database and found MMP16 was candidate biomarker in GC. Then we validated clinical significance of MMP16 mRNA expression in 167 GC by RT-PCR. Survival analysis showed that high expression of MMP16 indicated poor overall and disease free survival (P<0.001). The proliferation and invasion potential of GC cells were determined by CCK8, colony formation and Transwell assays. Silencing of MMP16 expression significantly decreased the invasion and proliferation capacity of GC cells (P<0.05). In conclusion, MMP16 was highly expressed and correlated with poor prognosis in GC patients by promoting proliferation and invasion of GC cells. MMP16 could be a novel molecular target and prognostic marker for GC.