MMP9 and malignant colon neoplasm: EMT has been linked to the mobility and dissemination of CRC by conferring increased invasiveness and metastatic potential to cells.49,50 By microarray analysis, real-time PCR and western blotting validation, we observed that colon cancer cells with CDX2 knockdown expressed high levels of fibronectin, vimentin and MMP-9, and low levels of ZO-1 and E-cadherin.