Vol.95 No.3 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 95 No. 3 March 2002
Relation between the Expression of MMP-1 and Otologic Symptoms
in Cholesteatoma
You-ichi Matsuda
(Kurume University)
Matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) is known as a lytic enzyme and degrades type I collagen which constructs of bony tissue. Recently, attention has been focused to the relation between bone destruction and MMP-1.
In this study, we examined the presence of MMP-1 immunohistologically in tissue speciments from 42 cholesteatomas, and studied the relation between MMP-1 and the patient's clinical signs. To examine the effect of age, we divided patients with primary cholesteatoma into two groups; 14 years old or older (24 patients) and younger than 14 (11 patients). As clinical signs, we evaluated the presence of active inflammatory changes such as otorrhea and granulation as well as the degree of bone destruction compared with
bone destruction scale.
As a result, there was a significant correlation between the signs of active inflammatory findings and the degree of bone destruction.
Immunohistological expression of MMP-1 was found in 40 (95％) of 42 specimens. MMP-1 was present in 6 (14％) cholesteatoma epithelium, 39 (93％) cholesteatoma debris and 24 (57％) granulation under the epithelium. In patients with active inflammatory clinical signs, the MMP-1 level appeared significantly elevated in the debris and in the granulation tissue of the cholesteatoma. There was also a significant correlation between the MMP-1 level in granulation tissue and bone destruction.
These findings suggest that MMP-1 in inflammatory lesions might accelerate the bone destruction and indicate the necessity to preoperatively treatment inflammation in cholesteatoma patients.
Key words : cholesteatoma, matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1), immunohistological staining, active inflammation, bone destruction scale