Abstract: 　Objective To explore the change of matrix metalloproteinase-2(MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression in liver tissue of the patients with schistosomiasis japonica. Methods Liver biopsy materials were examined pathomorphologically in 26 patients with schistosomiasis in advanced stage and 5 cases without the disease as control. The expression of MMP-2 , MMP-9 and C-Ⅳwere studied by immunohistochemistry, and result was analyzed by picture quantitative analysis technique. Results Immnoreactive MMP-2 was mainly expressed in the plasma, the membrane of hepato-cytes and hepatic sinusoids, it was also found in myofibroblast cells and endothelial cells of blood vessel. Immnoreactive MMP-9 was observed in hepatic stellate cells, sinusoids and myofibroblast cells, sometimes it was also seen in the plasma of hepato-cytes and epithelial cells of bile duct. The expression of MMP-2, MMP-9 and C-IV was significandy stronger in patients with advanced schistosomiasis than that of the control(P<0.05). The expression of MMP-2 was relevant to the inflammation grade and stage of liver fibrosis(P<0.01). The expression of MMP-9 did not show significant change(P>0.05) and the expression of C-Ⅳ was consistent with that of MMP-2. Conclusion The study indicates that increased expression of MMP-2 participated in the initiation and development process of liver fibrosis, MMP-9 was related to the initiation of liver fibrosis and pathological change existed in hepatic sinusoids in advanced schistosomiasis japonica.

Key words: schistosomiasis japonica, liver fibrosis, matrix metalloproteinase-2, matrix metal loproteinase-9