Prediction of prognosis in gallbladder carcinoma by CD147 and MMP-2 immunohistochemistry

Aim To investigate whether the presence of CD147 and MMP-2 in cancerous gallbladder tissues might help us to predict the patients’ prognosis. Methods Tissue samples from 168 patients with gallbladder carcinomas and 37 patients with chronic cholecystitis were stained with anti-CD147 and anti-MMP-2 antibodies for immunohistochemical analysis. Then, the association of their expression with clinicopathologic characteristics and 108 patients’ prognosis was analyzed. Results CD147 and MMP-2 were detected mainly in cancerous tissues, but also expressed in some chronic cholecystitis patients. Out of 168 patients with gallbladder carcinoma 121 (72.02%) and 136 (80.95%) patients showed CD147 and MMP-2 positive expression, whereas the 37 patients with chronic cholecystitis only 5 (13.51%) and 3 (8.11%) patients expressed them, respectively. Pathologic findings demonstrated that the intensity of CD147 and MMP-2 staining in cancerous tissues was associated significantly with histological types (P = 0.03), distant metastasis (P < 0.01), and Nevin stages (P = 0.02) of gallbladder carcinomas. Using a proportional hazard model, the survival rate of the patients with CD147+/MMP-2+ expression was the lowest (P < 0.01), and including information on CD147 and MMP-2 staining patterns within cancerous tissues along with clinical cancer staging may improve the accuracy of predicting patients’ prognosis. Conclusion The results suggest that the expression of CD147 and MMP-2 may be an important feature of gallbladder carcinomas. The detection of these two markers combined with cancerous staging may increase the ability of investigators to predict the prognosis of patients with gallbladder carcinomas.