MMP9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Overexpression of CXCR3 is frequently associated with tumor size, tumor differentiation, portal invasion, and metastasis in HCC tissues via increasing levels of ERK1/2 phosphorylation in the MAPK signaling pathway, then increasing the MMP-2 and MMP-9, and accordingly accelerating invasion and migration of CD133+ liver cancer cells [32].