MMP9 and cancer: The mRNA expression levels of IL-6 (t16 = 17.23, p < 0.0001), CXCL10 (t16 = 73.6, p < 0.0001), and CXCL11 (t16 = 14.44, p < 0.0001) (which promote tumor-associated inflammation and immune escape in cancer), MMP2 (t16 = 6.774, p < 0.0001) and MMP9 (t16 = 20.86, p < 0.0001) (which are involved in tumor cell migration and invasion), as well as BIRC5 (t16 = 5.977, p < 0.0001) and CCND1 (t16 = 6.824, p < 0.0001) (which contribute to tumor cell proliferation), were significantly reduced following chalcone-9 treatment (Fig. 5A).