MMP2 and neoplasm: Moreover, similar to the FGF2 signaling inhibition effects observed in vitro, formononetin also significant decrease PI3K, Akt, MMP-2, MMP-9, and STAT3 in MDA-MB-231 tumor sections according to western blot, further demonstrating that formononetin played an important role in suppressing angiogenesis at least in part via FGFR2 signaling pathway.