BACKGROUNDTo investigate the clinical value of serum total MMP-9 detection in lung malignancies.

METHODSSerum total MMP-9 levels were detected in 63 patients with lung malignancies by sandwich ELISA with monoclonal antibody against human total MMP-9.

RESULTSSerum total MMP-9 was (92.2± 74.39) μg/L in lung malignancy group, which was significantly higher than that of healthy control [(9.5± 6.74) μg/L](P < 0.05). In lung cancer group, there were significant differences in serum total MMP-9 level between patients with and without lymph node metastasis, and between progressive disease+death group and complete response+partial response group. Significantly negative correlation was observed between serum CA242 and serum total MMP-9 levels (P=0.021).

CONCLUSIONSDetection of serum total MMP-9 may be helpful to predict metastasis and treatment response of lung cancer.