MMP9 and neoplasm: Consistent with the above, it was also found an aberrant overexpression of MTP18 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines and tumor tissues, and MTP18 promoted tumor growth and metastasis by inducing the progression of cell cycle, epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and production of MMP9 and suppressing cell apoptosis, which was involved in increased mitochondrial fission and subsequent ROS production (Zhang et al., 2018b).