• Marko Lempinen, Ilaana Lyytinen, Arno Nordin, Taina Tervahartiala, Heikki Mäkisalo, Timo Sorsa, and Helena Isoniemi.
• Clinic of Surgery, Department of Transplantation and Liver Surgery, Helsinki University Hospital , Helsinki Finland.
• Ann. Med. 2013 Nov 1; 45 (7): 482-7.

AimPrediction of prognosis in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of serum MMP-8, -9, -13, and TIMP-1 in patients with HCC.MethodsPre-treatment serum samples from 134 patients with HCC were retrospectively analyzed. The serum concentration of MMP-8 was analyzed with immunofluorometric assay (IFMA), and those of MMP-9, MMP-13, and TIMP-1 were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). Clinical data were retrieved from patient records and survival data obtained from Statistics Finland.ResultsThe overall cumulative disease-specific survival was 69% at 1 year, 50% at 2 years, and 33% at 5 years. Kaplan-Meier overall survival analysis showed that patients with low concentrations of serum MMP-8 or TIMP-1 had a statistically significantly better overall survival than patients with high concentrations of serum MMP-8 or TIMP-1 (P=0.013 and P=0.003). Interestingly, the overall survival in patients with high MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio was statistically significantly better than in those patients with low MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio (P=0.004).ConclusionOur results suggest that serum MMP-8, TIMP-1, and the ratio of MMP-9/TIMP-1 might be useful adjuncts as predictors of prognosis in patients with HCC.

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