Given abnormal levels of MMP9, MMP12 and TIMP3 mRNA expression in tumors from CRC patients and controls, we next measured the level of the MMPs and TIMP3 proteins in human colon cancer epithelial cells compared to normal colon cells by immunoblot (Fig. 3a, Additional file 1: Fig. S3). Here, TIMP3 is linked to malignant colon neoplasm.