Serum melatonin is inversely associated with matrix metalloproteinase-9 in oral squamous cell carcinoma.

This study aimed to investigate the associations between melatonin, MMPs, TIMPs and the histopathological characteristics of patients with OSCC. A total of 40 men with OSCC (mean age, 57±7 years) and 30 healthy men (mean age, 56±5 years) were enrolled in the present study. Enzyme immunoassays were used to measure the serum levels of melatonin, MMP-9, MMP-2, TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 before and after transoral surgery for OSCC. Serum melatonin level was significantly lower in patients with OSCC compared with controls, both pre-surgery and 2 days after surgery (P<0.001). In addition, melatonin level was negatively correlated with MMP-9 (r=-0.6371) and the MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio (r=-0.4700), but not with the MMP-2 or MMP-2/TIMP-2 ratio, in patients with OSCC. These results demonstrated that low levels of melatonin and high levels of MMP-9 correlated with large tumors with invasive depth (r=-0.35 and r=0.33) and lymph node metastasis (r=-0.56 and r=0.34). The results of this retrospective clinical study suggested that melatonin may be considered as a predictive biomarker of tumor growth and metastasis and a potential therapeutic agent for patients with OSCC. PMID: 32218858 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Oncology Letters - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncol Lett Source Type: research