Prognostic significance of MMP-7 expression in colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis

• We included 17 available studies with 2985 CRC patients in this meta-analysis.
• MMP-7 is significantly associated with poor OS and DFS in CRC patients.
• MMP-7 is also significantly associated with decreased 5-year survival rate.
• MMP-7 can serve as an indicator of poor prognosis for CRC patients.
• MMP-7 can be a potential novel target for future treatment in CRC patients.

ObjectiveMatrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) is a member of the family of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs); it is associated with invasive tumor growth and distant metastasis in colorectal cancer (CRC). However, the prognostic value of MMP-7 in CRC remains controversial. Thus, we conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the prognostic value of MMP-7 expression in CRC.MethodsWe systematically searched for studies evaluating the relationship between MMP-7 expression and the outcome of CRC patients in PubMed, the Cochrane library, Embase, Google Scholar, and Wanfang databases updated to August 2014. Studies were assessed for quality using REMARK (REporting recommendations for tumor MARKer prognostic studies). Hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) were pooled to estimate the hazard for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS), and odds ratios (ORs) with 95%CIs were pooled to estimate the impact of MMP-7 on the 5-year survival rate.ResultsIn total, 2985 patients from 17 studies were included in this meta-analysis. Our results showed that MMP-7 over-expression predicted poor OS (HR = 3.57, 95%CI 2.21–5.75, P = 0.000, random-effect model), poor DFS (HR = 2.49, 95%CI 1.73–3.57, P = 0.000, fixed-effect model), and decreased 5-year survival rate (OR = 0.26, 95%CI 0.19–0.37, P = 0.000, fixed-effect model). Therefore, MMP-7 is an indicator of poor survival and high recurrence rate in CRC patients.ConclusionMMP-7 can serve as a prognostic indicator and a potential novel target for treatment in CRC patients. More well-designed prospective studies with better methodology for MMP-7 assessment are required to clarify the prognostic significance of MMP-7 expression in CRC patients.