MMP3 and cancer: There was a marked co-expression correlation significance between MMP3 and CCN2/CTGF (Figure 5C; y = 0.08x + 0.1, R2 = 0.06) in the colorectal adenocarcinoma cases, suggesting that MMP3 may positively regulate CCN2/CTGF expression in both human clinical tumors and mouse cancers.