Role of MMP-9 in the etiology of inguinal hernia and vascular disease a comment to "altered metalloproteinase-9 expression as least common denominator between varicocele, inguinal hernia, and chronic venous disorders'' by Serra et.all

Abstract

The etiology of groin hernias has a strong relationship with the degradation of collagen within the fascia transversalis. So, in 2009,we investigated the roles of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) especially, MMP-1, MMP-2, and MMP-9 in the etiology of inguinal hernia. 1 Our prospective study included 60 inguinal hernia patients: 30 patients had an indirect inguinal hernia and 30 patients had a direct inguinal hernia. An additional 30 patients were operated for reasons other than hernia (varicoceles) in the inguinal canal were also included as a control group. Tissue specimens were taken from the fascia transversalis from patient and control groups during the operation, and MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-9 values were investigated using immunohistochemical methods. Significantly, higher values of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-9, were found in inguinal hernia cases than in the control group (P = 0.0001, P = 0.007, P = 0.021, respectively).