MMP9 and neoplasm: MMP activity analysis showed that along with a significant plasmatic expression and activation (Figures 5(a) and 5(b)), a tissular MMP-9 expression (active and inactive MMP) was detectable in the epithelial and the stromal areas of the invasive tissues (Figure 5(c)) (MMP-9 tumor/stroma, r = 0.89, p=0.001, Pearson).