Matrix Metalloproteinase-9/Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin Complex Activity in Human Glioma Samples Predicts Tumor Presence and Clinical Prognosis

Figure 1

Enzymic activity of MMPs in tumor and urine samples of glioma patients. (a) Gelatin zymography analysis of specimens from a representative control subject and a patient with glioma. Arrows indicate the four active MMPs detected in TT samples (MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-9/NGAL, and MMP-9D), whereas only weaker MMP-2 and MMP-9 are present in AT from the same patient. Urine from the control had no detectable MMP activity band but had visible MMP activity in Preop-1d urine. MMP-9, MMP-9/NGAL, and MMP-9D activities in Postop-1d urine were significantly increased and quickly decreased in Postop-1w urine, compared with that in Preop-1d urine. (b) Quantification of control and glioma patients with MMP-2, MMP-9, MMP-9/NGAL, and MMP-9D activities detected in Preop-1d urine. Among the 35 tumor patients, MMP-9/NGAL activity was detected in most gliomas (positive for 85.7%); it was not detected in control subjects (AT: adjacent nontumor tissue, TT: tumor tissue, and Preop-1d, Postop-1d, and Postop-1w urine: fresh urine samples were collected in the morning one day prior to surgery, the day after surgery, and one week after surgery).

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