SPOCK3 and central nervous system cancer: In a study of glioma, it was found that SPOCK1 and SPOCK3 can inhibit the invasiveness of glioma cells by suppressing membrane-type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP)-mediated matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) activation, and that high level of SPOCK2 expression could abrogate the inhibition of MMP2 by SPOCK1 and SPOCK3 and increase the invasiveness of glioma cells (Nakada et al., 2001, 2003).