MMP12 and inflammatory bowel disease: Similarly, MMP12 expression was increased in the colonic mucosa and serum of IBD patients [18,19,20,21], and stool MMP12 protein levels showed high capacity for monitoring disease progression and predicting disease remission in pediatric patients with IBD [22], which suggested that MMP12, as observed for other inflammatory disorders, might play an active role in the development of intestinal inflammation.