The authors used LPS-induced macrophage and keratinocyte cellular systems to show that lutein suppressed the generation of IL-6 and production of cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2), a potent inflammatory and cancer-inducing enzyme, via both the interferon-γ (IFN-γ) and TNF-α pathways.70 In these experiments, lutein also suppressed the rising levels of matrix-metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9). This evidence concerns the gene MMP9 and cancer.