Subsequently, we examined the mRNA (Fig. 4C) and protein (Fig. 4D) levels of phospho-ERK, MMP2/9 and markers of EMT and found that phpspho-ERK, MMP2/9 were significantly decreased and gastric cancer cells was induced to proceed mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition process upon TNC knockdown. The gene discussed is MMP2; the disease is gastric cancer.