MMP9 and malaria: In the last decade, growing evidence on involvement of MMPs in falciparum malaria became available: human postmortem studies showed enhanced protein levels of MMP-1 in brains of CM patients [15], whereas MMP-8 was found increased in plasma of severe malaria patients [16]; additionally, activation of the human MMP-9 gene by P. falciparum has been reported in microarray studies on whole blood from children with malaria [17].