In a study of cervical cancer, Ying et al. found that increased PTX3 expression was associated with tumor progression, and PTX3 knockdown resulted in reduced tumor cell viability, impaired colony formation, cell cycle arrest in the G2/M phase, and inhibition of MMP-2, MMP-9, and urokinase plasminogen activator. The gene discussed is PLAU; the disease is cervical carcinoma.