MMP9 and ovarian epithelial tumor: Furthermore, the results displaying the presence of MMP-9 which demonstrated the absence of co-localization with MMP-2, the particular association with steroid receptors in histological subtypes, the lack of association of MMP-9 with FIGO stages and the lack of significance for MMP-9 in Cox proportional hazard analysis indicate that MMP-2 and MMP-9, although having common function as “gelatinases”, differ in their significance in epithelial ovarian tumors and probably show variations in the interaction with sexual steroid receptors.