Because normal stroma possesses inherent plasticity to respond rapidly to neoplastic situations and given the biological role of tumor microenvironment-derived factors in tumor growth or metastasis33, it is reasonable to speculate that stromal fibroblast-derived MMP-3 has a protective role in prostate cancer tumorigenesis; therefore, MMP-3 expression is decreased when the environment is converted into a pathological entity, where CAFs favor tumor progression. The gene discussed is MMP3; the disease is neoplasm.