We also confirmed higher mRNA levels of L1CAM, Mint3 and MT1-MMP in breast cancer stroma than in normal stroma, using a previously reported public data set (Figure 8d).39 These results implied that the tumour microenvironment influenced the expression of L1CAM, Mint3 and MT1-MMP in fibroblasts. Here, MMP14 is linked to breast carcinoma.