mRNA expressions MMP-2 and MMP-9 as potential molecular markers for distinguishing the boundary between tumour and normal tissue in basal cell carcinoma
mRNA expressions MMP-2 and MMP-9 as potential molecular markers for distinguishing the boundary between tumour and normal tissue in basal cell carcinoma

Summary/Abstract: Introduction: Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSC) are the most common malignant neoplasms, the number of which continues to increase. BCC is characterized by slow growth, its main clinical feature being that it infiltrates adjacent tissues and destroys adjacent structures. Material and methods: The expression of mRNA transcripts for collagen types I, IV and MMP-2 and MMP-9 were compared in skin biopsies from patients with BCC of the skin and in the biopsies of healthy skin from the tumour margin. The study involved seventy patients diagnosed with BCC. Results: The differences between mRNA expressions for MMP-2 and MMP-9, type I collagen and type IV collagen were investigated in nodular and infiltrative BCC both in tumour tissue samples and normal tissue samples taken from the tumour margins of the same patients. Conclusions: Significantly higher levels of mRNA expressions for type I collagen, MMP-2 and MMP-9, as well as consistently lower levels of mRNA expression for type IV collagen in tumour tissue compared to tumour margin tissue obtained from the same patients, were identified in both types of BCC. These differences indicate a different role for collagen I and collagen IV in the pathomechanism of BCC. Key words: BCC, MMPs, molecular markers, collagen type I and IV

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