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

Abstract

Matrix-metalloproteinases (MMPs) and their tissue inhibitors (TIMPs) expression levels have been demonstrated to have prognostic value in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). The present study hypothesized that melatonin, a small lipophilic molecule primarily secreted by the pineal gland, may be able to regulate MMP activity in OSCC progression. 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.

Decreased Circulating Melatonin with Loss of Age-Related Biphasic Change in Patients with Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…In addition, they reported that the serum melatonin levels were negatively correlated with matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP 9). Low levels of serum melatonin and high levels of serum MMP-9 were correlated with larger tumor sizes and higher invasiveness and lymph node metastasis [27]. However, in our study, we did not observe a correlation between serum melatonin and tumor size or lymph node metastasis.…”

Specific Adverse Effects of Bevacizumab in the Treatment of Non-Squamous Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) in Clinical Practice

“…Bleeding events like hemoptysis or pulmonar y haemorrhage are common adverse events associated with bevacizumab and may lead to fatal outcome. Tumour cavitation was associated with an increased risk for bleeding in some studies, and other studies show an increased risk associated with central tumour location, squamous histology and invasion of major blood vessels [13,[17][18][19][20][21]. In our study, 2 patients presented hemoptysis, in one patient hemoptysis was grade 1, and in another patient grade 2, and required administration of hemostatic therapy.…”

Construction of Prognostic Risk Prediction Model of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma Based on Nine Survival-Associated Metabolic Genes

“…OSCC was generally asymptomatic in the early stages, which can lead to late diagnosis, extensive lesions, and potential metastases, while lymph node metastases were widely recognized as a major cause of poor survival ( Gharat et al, 2016 ; Bray et al, 2018 ; Velmurugan et al, 2020 ). The 5-year survival for OSCC has been reported approximately 50% ( Warnakulasuriya, 2009 ; Taghavi and Yazdi, 2015 ; Stanciu et al, 2020 ). Despite intervention with advanced treatment regimens like chemoradiotherapy, surgery, EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) inhibitors and COX-2 inhibitors, and photodynamic therapy, survival rate of OSCC has not improved significantly in recent decades ( Rhodus et al, 2014 ; Chi et al, 2015 ; Gupta et al, 2016 ).…”