Given that both tumor promoting and inhibitory effects have been described for TIMP-1 [12-16], and that cellular TIMP-1 function depends on the surrounding microenvironment [46,47] the discrepancy between endpoints could also be related to a biological role of TIMP-1 such that the role of TIMP-1 is different in the case of localized cancer compared to the advanced disease setting, perhaps by preventing further spread of metastasis at this stage. The gene discussed is TIMP1; the disease is neoplasm.