Independent predictive factors for lymph node metastasis identified by logistic regression analysis were as follows: depth of penetration (P = 0.01), ly (P = 1.0E-4), and tumor matrilysin expression (P = 0.04) for ECA; depth of penetration (P = 0.02), ly (P = 4.5E-5), matrilysin (P = 0.01) for GCA; v (P = 0.03), and matrilysin (P = 1.44E-4) for CRC. Here, MMP7 is linked to metastatic malignant neoplasm in the lymph nodes.