A study by Kowshik et al. [102] performed a quantitative RT-PCR, immunoblotting, and IHC research and found that astaxanthin supplementation reduces crucial effects of JAK/STAT factors activity, especially the attachment of a phosphoryl group to STAT3 and its nuclear translocation; they also showed that astaxanthin inhibited the action of STAT-3 target genes relevant for the cell division process, tumour aggressiveness, and angiogenesis, and reduced malignant cell dissemination by downregulating target biomarkers such as cyclin D1, MMP-2 and -9, and VEGF in the HBP carcinogenesis model. Here, MMP2 is linked to neoplasm.