Evaluation of urinary glycosaminoglycans and matrix metalloproteinase-7 in lung cancer patients

Lung cancer accounts for one-third of all cancer-related deaths worldwide. Glycosaminoglycans and matrix metalloproteinase-7 (MMP-7) have been found to be involved in cancer. The aim of our study was to evaluate the clinical significance of urinary glycosaminoglycans and MMP-7 in lung cancer patients in order to explore their potential diagnostic utility and predicting ability with respect to the different clinicopathological parameters.Urine samples used in the assay of glycosaminoglycans and MMP-7 were collected from 70 lung cancer patients (45 squamous cell lung cancer and 25 adenocarcinoma). Control subjects were 15 age and sex matched non smokers.The malignant group mainly adenocarcinoma type showed significant increase in urinary glycosaminoglycans and MMP-7 compared to control group. Regarding the different clinicopathological factors, urinary glycosaminoglycans and MMP-7 showed significant increase with the histological grades and clinical stages (p < 0.05, p < 0.05 respectively). The best cut-off values for glycosaminoglycans and MMP-7 determined by Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve were 67.5 μg/mg creatinine and 10.05 ng/mg creatinine respectively. The sensitivity and specificity were 91.4% and 86.7% for glycosaminoglycans and 71.4% and 86.7% for MMP-7. The combined assay of the two parameters raised the overall positivity rate to 88.9% and 94.7% regarding grade 1 and stage I respectively.In conclusion, our findings can indicate that urinary glycosaminoglycans and MMP-7 can be potential non invasive helpful markers in lung cancer patients.