MMP9 and hepatocellular carcinoma: Then, we examined VM and VM microenvironment-associated markers in HCC tissues by IHC analysis and observed that IF1 expression levels were inversely related to expression levels of E-cadherin and positively related to those of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP9), matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP2), and VE-cadherin (Fig. 1I and J).