MMP2 and hepatocellular carcinoma: We found that the suppressive effect of CASZ1 on the levels of p-ERK, MMP2, MMP9 and cyclinD1 was significantly abrogated by RAF1 overexpression in HCCLM3CASZ1 cells, while the promotion effect of CASZ1 silence on these proteins expression was greatly inhibited by RAF1 knockdown in PLC/PRF/5shCASZ1 cells, however, altering RAF1 expression didn’t affect CASZ1 levels in HCC cells (Fig. 7a).