MMP9 and neoplasm: Therefore, the positive regulation of N-cadherin increases the ability of tumor cells to invade and metastasize to different sites, in addition to the fact that this molecule increases the transcriptional activity of β-catenin 27-fold [92], which simultaneously increases the expression of genes encoding proteins such as MMP-9 metalloproteinase [93], which main function is to degrade components of the cellular matrix [94].