MMP2 and cancer: The membrane-anchored MMP-14 also functions as the activator of secreted MMP-2 from its inactive zymogen; and both MMP-2 and MMP-14 promotes cancer cell invasion and metastasis [35, 40, 41], implicating that Cu2+ may modulate the metastatic properties of HCC cells by directly up-regulating MMP-2 and MMP-14 expression.