Marine bacterium Salinispora tropica renders salinosporamide A (also called NPI-0052), which was recently identified by Ahn et al. They have monitored the salinosporamide A's ability to potentiate the apoptosis induced by tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), bortezomib, and thalidomide, and this mechanism was correlated with the downregulation of cancer-related gene products including MMP-9 that plays a role in tumor invasion. The gene discussed is MMP9; the disease is cancer.