The metalloproteinase MT1-MMP, also known as MMP14, colocalizes with CD44 forming a complex through the hemopexin-like (PEX) domain in the MT1-MMP and the CD44-ICD, whose interaction is indispensable for degrading the extracellular matrix barrier during cancer invasion and is also involved in the CD44 ectodomain cleavage (see below) (67, 68). This evidence concerns the gene CD44 and cancer.