['Despite the conventional acceptance of the matrix metalloproteinases (MMP)-2 and MMP-9, as markers of invasion in glioblastoma (GBM), there is no large body of evidence supporting their role as prognostic markers. Since the co-expression of MMPs with p53 was noted to be prognostic in other cancers, we evaluated the protein expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in GBM and explored their prognostic relevance with respect to p53 expression.', 'Tumor tissues from a uniformly treated cohort of 132 GBM patients were examined for MMP-2, MMP-9, and p53 protein expression by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Survival analyses were performed by Cox-regression and Kaplan-Meier (KM) survival analysis. P53 IHC-based stratification of all GBM cases was performed, and subgroup-specific expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was correlated with survival.', 'MMP-2 and MMP-9 were expressed in p53 positive as well as p53 negative GBM tumors. MMP-2 and MMP-9 protein expressions had no correlation with prognosis. MMP-9 expression, however, emerged as a strong independent predictor of poor survival in p53 positive GBMs on both Cox-regression analysis (P = 0.036) and KM survival analysis (P = 0.008). Further, even on multivariate analysis, MMP-9 remained strongly associated with poor prognosis (P = 0.010).'] Does p53 stratification reveal the prognostic utility of matrix metalloproteinase-9 protein expression in glioblastoma?