Table 2.

Correlation of MMP-7 expression with clinicopathologic characteristics of LAC patients.

Variables	Cases (n)	MMP-7		χ2	P
		-	+
Total	50	12	38
Age (years)
<60	28	7	21	0.034	0.853
≥60	22	5	17
Gender
Male	31	8	23	0.143	0.705
Female	19	4	15
TNM staging
I+II	29	9	20	1.836	0.175
III+IV	21	3	18
Tumor size
T1+T2	42	10	32	0.005	0.943
T3+T4	8	2	6
Lymph node metastases
No	22	9	13	6.035	0.014
Yes	28	3	25

LAC, lung adenocarcinoma.