In addition, decorin, which is expressed in the stroma of various cancers and can be cleaved by MMP2, 3, 7 and MT1-MMP, recognizes and binds to all isoforms of TGF-β to form an inactive complex, which inhibits TGF-β signaling in vitro and indirectly attenuates downstream signaling pathways (118). Here, MMP2 is linked to cancer.