MMP9 and gastric cancer: Since the relationship between NF-κB and STAT3 pathways in gastric cancer has not been described previously, the present study performed a large scale immunohistochemical analysis to investigate the correlation between NF-κB p65 (RelA) and phospho-Tyr705-STAT3 (pSTAT3) or matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) in 255 surgically excised human gastric carcinoma tissues.