This effect might be attributed to its dose-dependent inhibition of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway that reducing MMP-2 expression, as observed in HT-29 cells (Monsef-Esfahani et al., 2014) Nepitrin, even at low concentrations, directly inhibits the enzymatic activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9, thereby attenuating proteolytic ECM remodeling (Yao et al., 2019), while luteolin suppresses MMP-2/9 expression to impair migration and invasion of cells of colorectal cancer and breast cancer (Feng et al., 2020; Li et al., 2015). This evidence concerns the gene MMP2 and colorectal cancer.