MMP9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Other studies found that ERS is closely related to the invasiveness and anti-tumor drug resistance of HCC as well: early study found that ERS upregulated MMP-9 expression and exacerbated HCC cell SMMC-7721 and HepG2 metastasis and invasion by inducing calreticulin membrane translocation (Zhai W.L. et al., 2015).