Immunohistochemical analysis showed that TIMP1/MMP9/CD44 ternary complex expression in primary tumor avatars paralleled an increase of the expression levels of TWIST, SNAIL in the xenograft metastasis, resembling the phenotypic landscape of PTC and ATC patient-derived primary and metastatic lesions (Fig. 5A, B). The gene discussed is MMP9; the disease is neoplasm.