MMP9 and coronary artery disorder: Multiple regression analysis of the influence of independent variables such as CAD stage, DM, and HT on plasma levels of MMP-2, MMP-9, and TIMP-4 showed that only DM was independently associated with a higher level of MMP-2 (β = 0.42, R2 = 0.17, p < 0.001) (see Table 5).