Several studies have found that MMP-9, one of the extracellular matrix-degrading proteinases, was involved in EC’s (endometrial cancer) clinical progression and prognosis. However, the results involving the associations of MMP-9 expression with risk, clinical features and prognosis of EC were conflicting. Therefore, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to clarify the correlation of MMP-9 expression with EC.
Relative studies involving the associations between MMP-9 expression and EC were retrieved from PubMed, Embase, Web of Science and CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) electronic databases. OR (odds ratio) with 95% CI (confidence interval) was applied to evaluate the associations of MMP-9 expression with risk and clinical features of EC. Furthermore, we evaluated the role of MMP-9 expression in prognosis of EC using HR and 95% CI. The funnel plots and Begg test were used to assess the publication bias.
A total of 28 eligible studies were acquired from Pubmed, Embase, Web of science and CNKI databases. We found MMP-9 overexpression was significantly associated with the risk of EC (OR = 11.02, 95% CI = 7.51-16.16,
MMP-9 overexpression might be a potential predictor of poor clinical progression and prognosis of EC.