YBX1 and hepatocellular carcinoma: From cancer studies, we already know that YB-1 can modulate MMP-2, however, dependent on the tissue localization it can have both enhancing and suppressive effects: While it induced the expression of MMP-2 in human melanoma and hepatocellular carcinoma cells (Sechi et al., 2018; Liao et al., 2020), YB-1 had repressive effects on this enzyme in human HeLa cervical carcinoma cells (Samuel et al., 2005; Samuel et al., 2007).