Investigation of tissue inhibitors of matrix metalloproteinases (TIMP) gene polymorphisms in patients with glial tumors

Glial tumors, categorized into two groups as low and high grade tumors, constitutes 30% of primary brain tumors. Although mutations in various genes and several chromosomal abnormalities were reported to have role, the genetic basis of glial tumors has not been clarified yet. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) are enzymes carrying Zn in active site and digesting the components of extracellular matrix and basal membrane. In addition to the functions in tissue regeneration, morphogenesis, wound healing and normal developmental stages, MMPs also have role in patological conditions such as tumor cell invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. It is thought that specific tissue inhibitors of MMPs (TIMP), regulating the activiy of MMPS by binding to their catalytic site, also have a function in tumor development, invasion and inhibition of metastasis. In this study, it was aimed to search for polymorphism-disease association by screening TIMP polymorphisms in glial tumor patients and control subjects. Four polymorphisms (TIMP-1 rs6609533, TIMP-2 rs8179090, TIMP-3 rs5749511 and rs2234921) were analysed in totally 100 samples (50 patients and 50 control) by using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) - restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method. No statistically significant difference was found between the genotype distribution of studied TIMP gene polymorphisms in the patient and control group (p>0.05). As a result, it can be stated that TIMP genes have no effect in the development of glial tumors. Key Words: Glial Tumor, TIMP-1, TIMP-2, TIMP-3, Polymorphism