Progelatinase A mRNA expression in cell lines derived from tumors in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma correlates inversely with survival.

Objectives: Tumors are thought to metastasize by a process involving tumor cell attachment to extracellular matrix, degradation of matrix components by tumor-associated proteases, and cellular movement into the area modified by protease activity. Type IV collagen comprises the major element tumor cells must degrade to gain access to the rest of the body. Renal cancer cell line progelatinase A (E.C. 3.4.24.24; 72-kDa type IV collagenase; MMP-2) mRNA expression was correlated with patient survival.

Methods: Total cellular mRNA was extracted from tumor cell lines derived from patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The results of the densitometric analysis of Northern blots were correlated with patient survival. Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue sections of primary renal cancers were examined for immunohistochemical expression of MMP-2.

Results: Cell lines established from 23 primary renal tumors and six metastatic sites in 26 patients with metastatic renal carcinoma were studied. Variable expression of progelatinase A, relative to A2058 melanoma cells (mean +/- SEM, 0.60 +/- 0.21; median, 0.082; range, 0 to 4.78), was found. There was a significant inverse association between patient survival and the log of the MMP-2 expression (P = 0.045 by the Cox proportional-hazards model). Using a cutoff value of 0.10, the closest round number to the median expression of MMP-2, a significant difference between survival of patients with lower and higher MMP-2 expression in their primary renal cell line was found (P = 0.0054). Cell lines with low, intermediate, and high expression of MMP-2 mRNA all had primary tumors with high tissue immunohistochemical expression of MMP-2.

Conclusions: These studies demonstrate an inverse relationship between renal cancer cell line MMP-2 mRNA expression and patient survival. Immunohistochemical studies of the primary tumors from which the cell lines were derived uniformly showed high MMP-2 expression. Previous work suggests local renal factors upregulate cellular expression of MMP-2 in the primary tumor, and are not active at extrarenal sites.