Semi-quantitative RT-PCR (Fig. 1) identified MMP-9 expression in 48.9% (22/45) of the gastric carcinoma tissues, 13.3% (6/45) of the distal gastric mucosa tissues (>5 cm from the gastric tumor) and 10% (1/10) of the healthy gastric mucosa control tissues. The gene discussed is MMP9; the disease is gastric neoplasm.