Besides, baicalein inhibited the gene and protein expressions of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and meanwhile promoted the expressions of tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1 and TIMP-2 in hepatocellular carcinoma MHCC97H cells and mouse melanoma B16F10 cells (Chen et al., 2013; Choi et al., 2017), suggesting that baicalein can suppress inflammatory responses through the down-regulation of TNF-α expression, resulting in the inhibition of MMP expressions in Hs68 fibroblasts. Here, MMP9 is linked to hepatocellular carcinoma.