Assays for Measurement of MMPs and TIMPs in Body Fluids

Assays for Measurement of MMPs and TIMPs in Body Fluids 

Hanemmaaijer et al. (HI) developed a brilliant immunocapture assay for detection of latent and activated MMP-9 in body fluid samples. The assay 

Pitfalls in Measurement of Blood Levels of MMPs AND TIMPs 

Before proceeding to a discussion of blood levels of MMPs and TIMPs in various diseases, it will be useful for the reader to critically examine the technical limitations of measuring these antigens in blood. An important consideration of measurements of MMPs in disease is the bimodal distribution of blood levels of MMPs in healthy subjects this is especially noted with plasma MMP-9, where 20% of healthy individuals have MMP-9 levels that are twice that of the remainder of the population (Fig. 2). We have noted that MMP levels are relatively constant in each individual over time. Genetic differences within the population probably account for much of this 

Based on our detection of high levels of MMP-9 and MMP-3 in human cancer tissue and joint tissue and the identification of increased levels of MMP-9 and MMP-3 in the plasma of patients with breast/colon cancer and rheumatoid arthritis, respectively, we postulated that tissue MMPs leach into the bloodstream in increased amounts in patients with biologically aggressive cancer and arthritis (M3). Confirmation of this hypothesis by 

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