Matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP-7) is a member of a family of proteolytic enzymes that are capable to degrade many ECM components and cell adhesion. MMP-7 overexpression has been reported in a variety of cancers and demonstrated to play an important role in cancer cell invasion and metastasis. The −181 A/G (rs11568818) polymorphism in the promoter region of the MMP-7 encoding gene has been reported to modulate gene expression and might affect cancer progression. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the correlation between -181A/G polymorphism and gastric cancer and has used polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method, among the northern Iranian population. 104 clinically diagnosed gastric cancer patients and 103 age-matched healthy individuals were included and genotyped for this polymorphism. The results showed that the GG and AG genotypes (GG + AG) as compared with AA genotype were predisposed to gastric cancer (OR = 2.56, 95% CI = 0.203–0.691, P-value = 0.002). Using HaploReg software (v 4.1) in silico analysis showed that the rs11568818 polymorphism is located in a DNase I hypersensitive region and may be located in the binding site of some transcription factors. In conclusion, our results suggest that patients with −181 GG and AG genotypes have an increased risk for gastric cancer and this polymorphism may be a candidate marker for predicting individuals who are at higher risk to gastric cancer. Further work with a larger sample size including other criteria such as H. pylori infection status is needed for more accuracy.
