MMP-3, known as inducers of EMT, is one of the several MMPs that regulate angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis (Huang et al., 2016; Chu et al., 2018; Simi et al., 2018).It was reported that MMP-3 expression level was negatively correlated with GC development (Xu et al., 2016). Here, MMP3 is linked to gastric cancer.