Paradoxically however, TIMP-1 expression has been found to be elevated in certain malignancies, and high levels of TIMP-1 expression in tumours, by either tumour or stromal cells, are predictive of poor patient prognosis with regard both to the length of the disease-free interval and to survival rate (Ree et al, 1997; McCarthy et al, 1999; Nakopoulou et al, 2002). This evidence concerns the gene TIMP1 and neoplasm.