Comparative Role of Matrixins in Diagnostics of Parotid Gland Tumors

Abstract

The benign and malignant neoplasms in parotid gland have similar clinical presentations despite different tumor growth rates. The study compared the clinical and morphological data as well as the results of ELISA for MMP-2, MMP-8, MMP-9, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2 in salivary fluid yielded during primary examination of the patients with pleomorphic adenoma and adenocarcinoma of parotid gland. The examined biomarkers detected in salivary fluid in patients with various cancer types differed significantly (p≤0.05). The correlations between clinical identification of adenoma or adenocarcinoma, on the one hand, and the levels of MMP-8, TIMP-1, and TIMP-2, on the other hand, makes it possible to use the latter as biomarkers for early detection and comprehensive noninvasive differential diagnostics of these neoplasms.