In an examination of a group of patients with early stage oral squamous cell carcinoma, Katayama et al(10) found that patients who developed regional lymph node and/or distant metastasis showed significantly increased MMP-9 and TIMP metallopeptidase inhibitor-2 (TIMP-2) expression compared to patients without any tumor metastasis. The gene discussed is MMP9; the disease is oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma.