Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.
The matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) family plays an important role in the degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM) in various physiological and pathological conditions. Accumulated evidence has suggested that MMPs contribute to cancer cell invasion of the surrounding normal tissues and metastasis through the cell-surface ECM degradation. Strong correlations have been reported between elevated MMP levels and tumor cell invasiveness in human gliomas. Among them, attention has been focused on gelatinases (MMP-2 and MMP-9) and membrane type MMPs (MT-MMPs). We discuss here the biological significance of these MMPs in the glioblastoma invasion processes. A better understanding of cell-ECM interactions will help in developing therapeutic strategies to decrease the invasion of gliomas.