Intriguingly, when infection of HBMEC with N. meningitidis MC58 was carried out in the presence of the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk at a concentration of 25 μM, we still detected an increase in MMP-8 activity during time-period (Figure 7B), indicating that release of active MMP-8 does not necessitate caspase activity. Here, MMP8 is linked to infection.