In our investigation involving 228 women diagnosed with early-stage invasive ductal carcinoma of luminal types A and B, immunohistochemical analysis revealed that more than 50% of the tumors exhibited MMP-11 expression, predominantly within fibroblast-shaped cells present in the tumor stroma, known as cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) [28]. The gene discussed is MMP11; the disease is neoplasm.