In addition, IL-6 secreted from cancer cells facilitates angiogenesis and stromal changes to the CAF phenotype, increasing the levels of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 (MMP-2 and MMP-9), which trigger ECM proteolysis (Nagasaki et al., 2014; Cancemi et al., 2020). The gene discussed is MMP2; the disease is cancer.