Spearman’s rank test showed that a significant negative correlation was found between miR-125a and MMP11 protein expression (r = −0.41, P < 0.01),and down-regulation of miR-125a was also strongly correlated with up-regulation of VEGF-A expression in these HCC tissues (r = −0.59, P < 0.01) (Figure 5F; Table 4). This evidence concerns the gene MMP11 and hepatocellular carcinoma.