In particular, our results were similar to those of Li et al., who found that AKR1B10 expression is positively correlated with tumor size and lymph node metastasis in breast cancer and that AKR1B10 promotes MMP2 and vimentin expression by activating the ERK signaling pathway, thereby promoting the invasion and metastasis of MCF-7 and BT-20 breast cancer cells33. Here, MMP2 is linked to breast cancer.