We also found that the association of MMP3 expression with survival became stronger with increasing tumor grade: while grade I tumors showed a nonsignificant association with MMP3 (Figure 3F, N=172, p=0.095), we found progressive increases in hazard ratio and significance for grade II (Figure 3G, N=495, HR=1.45 [95% CI 1.01-2.08], p=0.042) and grade III tumors (Figure 3H, N=391, HR=1.63 [95% CI 1.11- 2.41], p=0.012). Here, MMP3 is linked to neoplasm.